


Ready To Comply?

by LeonDesdichard



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Brainwashing, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Past depictions of violence, Torture, Winter Soldier AU, brainwashing recovery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-04-08 17:26:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 35,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14110365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeonDesdichard/pseuds/LeonDesdichard
Summary: What if James wasn't the only person who had been under HYDRA control during CA the Winter Soldier? What if there had been another person who was his partner that had been with him in D.C.? A man who had been teamed up with the Soldier and had been trained to be just as vicious as his partner. The man who had been paired with the Soldier was the Iron Wolf, but HYDRA had never expected that the man would become more loyal to the Soldier than to HYDRA, they had not looked that far ahead.





	1. Soldier

Natasha was running as fast as she could to try and get away from the Winter Soldier yelling at civilians to get out of the way as the Soldier chased her. Breathing a sigh of relief as she reached an area at which the Soldier would have no chance at her she allowed herself one sigh of relief. Suddenly pain ripped through her soldier along with terror. There was no way that the Soldier could have possibly shot her. Unless. Oh shit. She immediately ran from her now unsafe spot behind the car where she had been only to see him standing further down the street. Her blood turned to ice upon seeing another man dressed in a similar style to the Soldier with exception to the metal arm. Covered in Kevlar, an immeasurable amount of weapons and a sniper rifle was him. The Iron Wolf. It had to be no one could have made that shot. She hadn't seen him since Red Room but he still had a familiar presence. But why did he seem familiar. 

Natasha dodged to the side as he started firing at her trying to reign in the cold chill which came from the Iron Wolf. Their odds of winning this fight had drastically fallen with both the Winter Soldier and the Iron Wolf here. With Steve and Sam both fighting the Soldier the Iron Wolf was left up to her. 'Oh joy'. 

Letting herself get lost in thoughts was not a good idea as she was barely able to move out of the way when the Wolf tried to take her bloody head off. The two of them stood there looking at each other and just before the Wolf attacked her he cocked his head in a familiar way. Why did the man seem more familiar now than when she had known him years ago? Then it hit her as the Wolf and her were trading blows.

She had seen that familiar head tilt, hundreds, if not thousands of times before. But there was no fucking way. There was no way in hell. But he had been out of contact for nearly six months. 

The next attack which she tried against the Wolf was blocked before he promptly flipped her over his shoulder but at the last moment Natasha was able to readjust her body so that she had her legs wrapped around his neck tightening her grip immediately so as not to be thrown off again. The luck didn't last when her opponent managed to get a good grip on Natasha and promptly flung her through the air. And in a last ditch attempt for an advantage she grabbed onto the first available thing that she could reach. Which just so happened to be the goggles and the mask on the Wolf's face. Rolling as she reached the pavement she came up to see the nightmare that she had been dreading.

Clint's face. 

No. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. There was no way that it could possibly be him. Natasha was struck with horror. Horror as the face of Clint Barton stared straight at her. 

"Clint?" Natasha felt her voice threatening to break upon uttering that single word. But there was no way that she would allow herself to show any shred of weakness. Even to her own partner. 

"Clint what the fuck are you doing?!" Natasha yelled at the Wolf wanting to hear the reasoning behind why he was fighting for the enemy. Hoping that this was some kind of trick which she had not been told about. 

"Who the fuck is Clint?" 

Before she could investigate further into the Clint lookalike she was pulled from behind and with the gun which was pointed directly at her by the Wolf there was nothing that she could do. 

Natasha then felt her arms being grabbed and upon looking around she saw that both Steve and Sam were being led to a van by hydra agents. But she couldn't care less. Clint. She was zoned out from everything that was going on around her. She was hoping beyond hope that the man had been a lookalike or even a clone. Because everything down to the eye-color was the exact same. The same build. The same broad shoulders and the same blonde hair. She was brought out of her thoughts upon hearing Steve talking. 

"It was Bucky. But he looked right at me but he didn't even recognize me." Natasha cleared her throat to get both of the guys attention. 

"We have a bigger problem Steve." The two men looked at her with questioning looks before she started talking again. 

"The other man. He looked exactly like Clint." Steve's eyes widened upon hearing Natasha. Sam was confused mainly due to the fact that he had never met Clint. "Are you sure?" She nodded in affirmation.  
"But the awful thing is that. He had no idea who I was." 

"Maybe it's a clone?" Steve responded in turn getting no more than a nod in response to his theory. 

"I don't think so." She said nothing further listening in the background as Sam was saying that she needed a doctor. Oh yeah. She forgot that she had been shot. When one of the guards pulled out an electric rod and neutralized the other guard Natasha figured that she must have lost a lot of blood to be hallucinating this. But when she saw the face of Hill she knew that she wasn't hallucinating. Hill looked more confused than anything upon hearing the news about the Clint Barton look-a-like coming from Natasha. 

"Let's deal with getting out of here before we start worrying about a compromised Barton." Natasha's eyes narrowed upon hearing Hill's words. As she watched the other three create a hole in the floor of the van she was internally panicking, not that she allowed anyone else to see this. There was no possible way that it could be Clint. He had been out of contact but there had been confusion at the name Clint. As if the Wolf had been hearing the name for the first time. 

As the two guys helped Natasha down into the hole so that they could escape she noticed that Steve was shooting her a concerned look. Because Steve knew that Clint had been her savior back when he had recruited her instead of killing her. And Steve knew that Natasha would raise hell until she knew for a fact that the man from earlier wasn't Clint. But Natasha already knew that it couldn't have been Clint. All that was required now was the proof to back up her instincts. 

Secret S.H.I.E.L.D. Facility

As Natasha was being led off she heard Hill distantly telling her that there would be time to talk as soon as the bullet in her shoulder had been dealt with. Natasha felt herself distantly nodding. She knew that she was going into shock right now. What with the Clint look-a-like. The Winter Soldier. And above all the Iron Wolf. Who looked exactly like Clint Barton. 

A Little While Later

As soon as Natasha walked into the room she nearly attacked the man who was lying in the hospital bed. Nick Fury. The man who was currently laying in that bed as if the chance that Clint Barton might possibly be compromised wasn't a factor. 

"They cut you open." These words were said while her hands were clenched tightly against her sides, her knuckles white from the pressure being exerted on them due to both her own frustration and silent rage. 

"Tetrodotoxin B. It slows the pulse down to one beat per minute. Banner developed it for stress. It didn't really have an effect on him but S.H.I.E.L.D. found a good use for it in the end."

"Why all of the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Natasha already knew the answer before Maria Hill chose to answer Steve. That any attempt on the director's life had to look successful. 

"Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust." Natasha's eyes narrowed upon hearing the words. She had finally reached her limit and the others in the room had realized this as well backing up slightly so that none of them were in the way of what was soon to be a full-out war between the two. 

"Where is Clint?" Natasha's gaze was unwavering as she looked into Fury's eyes. Everyone in the room knew that she would accept nothing but the truth from Fury. Her hands shook slightly from the fury that she was feeling briefly before she got them under control. "Is he compromised?" Confusion was the first emotion which ran across Fury's face upon hearing her question about Barton being compromised. 

"Why would he be compromised?" 

"Just answer me." Fury took a deep sigh before telling her that he had talked to Clint just mere days before all of this bullshit rained down. Confusion ran across her face as she tried to come up with an answer to Fury's response. She had been expecting avoidance of the question. Been expecting some type of bureaucratic bullshit about not being able to tell her anything about Clint's whereabouts. It wasn't possible. The kind of brainwashing that had been placed on the Wolf earlier would have taken months even years to accomplish on someone like Clint. 

"I JUST SAW HIM OUT THERE FIGHTING WITH THE SOLDIER! THEY BOTH TRAINED ME SO I KNOW THAT IT WAS REALLY THE WOLF THAT WAS FIGHTING ME AND NOT JUST SOME STAND-IN TO SHAKE ME!" Fury's eyebrows raised upon hearing Natasha and upon seeing the footage which Hill showed him on the tablet which was in her hands his eyes narrowed and then widened upon seeing the Wolf's face revealed by Natasha. 

"I'm not lying. When he spoke he sounded exactly like Clint. He even cocked his head the same exact way that Clint does. Is there some twin or clone that you haven't told any of us about?" Fury scoffed upon hearing Natasha's question but then cursed in ways which Natasha hadn't even imagined could be done.

"Does he have a twin?" 

"He died." Fury then pulled the phone which had been lying on the table next to his hospital bed and quickly dialed a number. One she recognized as Stark's. Fury didn't even give Tony a chance to make a sarcastic comment before he yelled into the phone. 

"You're going to dig up everything that you can on William Barton! Dig up the grave if you have to! Do it now Stark! And keep this quiet! The force with which Fury then slammed the phone on the bedside table surprised everyone in the fact that neither the phone or the table had in any way been harmed. "Now all we have to do is wait." 

"What's with all the fucking doom and gloom?" Natasha froze upon hearing that voice. Turning around she saw the most beautiful thing that she had ever seen in her life. 

Clint. 

Clint was walking up to her joking about some random thing when she very out of character for herself pulled her partner into a tight hug. Clint just stood there having paused mid-sentence. There was a look on his face which was clearly saying 'what the fuck is going on'. The hug lasted not even a full minute before she pulled back. As she looked into his face she grinned the broadest grin that Clint had ever seen her manage. He backed up slightly upon seeing it, thinking that he was in for some type of beating from his partner. 

"Ok. What did I do?" Clint asked looking over Natasha's shoulder to see Sam and Steve the two of them standing and staring at the weird scene clearly not knowing what to do or say. But Clint could tell that the two of them were sitting on a secret. And judging from Natasha's reaction it had to be nuclear level. 

"Are you okay Natasha?" Clint knew that she wasn't though. She wouldn't have hugged him otherwise. 

"We need to wait until Stark gets here. It'll help in explaining what's going on." As if his name could summon him Tony Stark walked right through the door and upon seeing Clint did a double take. "Ok what is with everyone acting so weird. I mean I'm the one that had to escape with none of my aliases in the middle of a potential warzone." 

"Let's go to the conference room. It'll be easier to explain in there. It also has a bigger screen which I can put this information on." Everyone nodded except for Clint. Was someone going to tell him that he was dying. Did he only have two days to live?" God he hoped not, because if he did then he would have to find someone to take care of Lucky.  
As the group walked into the conference room Clint headed straight over towards the coffee which was sitting in the middle of the table. Not hearing the question which had been asked. Clint turned around to face the group motioning for them to repeat the question. 

"Clint do you have any other family besides Barney?" Clint visibly flinched. Any mention of Barney would create such a reaction from him. Along with confusion. Why did everyone here, Fury included care about his dead twin brother? 

"I had a twin who died years ago Natasha. He wasn't even a week old. He died of an aneurism is what I was told. My father would throw around that he was lucky to have gotten out while he could. That no one would ever have willingly wanted to be my twin when he was drunk enough." Which anyone who knew about Clint's past was more than likely every day up until his parents had died. And Natasha knew that there was something else that Clint was not telling them about his brother as well. 

"What's all of this about Natasha?" 

"We think that he's alive Clint." Clint looked first confused and then closed off upon hearing them talk about his twin. "Look Natasha I came to deal with the fact that my twin died years ago." Which was a lie. He still hoped that his twin was alive even after so many years of dead ends. 

"So, unless you're completely sure that my twin is alive. If you have any minute traces of doubt please don't tell me." He paused and took a deep breath. "Because having hope that my twin might be alive only to have the hope dashed away would be a cruel trick of fate." 

"Clint. I saw a man earlier who could have been your doppelgänger." 

"When she had asked me if there was a possibility of you being compromised I told her that I had talked to you just hours before all of this shit happened." Fury added motioning towards Stark who threw the information which was on his tablet onto the big screen. The first image was of a gravestone. His twin brother's gravestone. Clint had to sit down. His twin could possibly be alive. Clint placed his head in his hands before looking up at the entire group. He had been right all those years ago, he had almost lost hope in thinking that his brother was dead. 

"I fucking swear that if this is a joke I will fucking kill you all!" Fury calmly handed Clint a folder and upon looking inside at the contents Clint paled visibly. He handed the folder over to Natasha before sitting down placing his head back in his hands. The first picture that he had seen upon opening the folder had been the image of the Wolf's face. It was a blurry picture but was clear enough to show that the man was a dead ringer for Clint. 

"My twin brother is the Iron Wolf? I find out that my twin is alive after looking into his death for years, only to find out that he could possibly be the partner to the motherfucking Winter Solder?" Natasha sat down next to Clint while everyone else in the room took seats around the large table, waiting to see what the archer's reaction was going to be. Rather than saying anything which was unusual for Tony he simply displayed the next part of the information which he had discovered up on the larger screen. The image was of the same gravestone from earlier. But it had been dug up and it was empty. The place where the body of his twin should have been was empty. There was not any evidence that there had ever been anything in there except for an empty coffin. Natasha's feeling of unease increased upon realizing that the reason why the man had seemed so familiar after such a long period of time. It had been Clint's twin brother who had helped in training her. 

"How can we find out more information about the Iron Wolf?" Clint finally asked breaking the silence in the air which had been tense. "We can take Pierce in alive." Clint nodded upon hearing the statement from Fury. "Why are you not freaking out Clint?" Tony asked the archer after another moment of silence had become too much for the archer.Everyone else looked to him as if glaring could make the man shut up. 

"Because he had the chance to kill me when I was still a gun for hire. I just didn't know that he was my twin brother at the time. " Everyone's eyes widened upon hearing Clint.  
"Explain." Fury said through gritted teeth. The fact that the archer had kept something of such importance from him. Clint took a deep breath and then expanded further on his statement. 

"When I was still a gun for hire there was a man who had the chance to kill me. We fought each other and were evenly matched. When my mask came off he stopped with his gun fixed right against the bottom of my jaw. I couldn't see his face but his eyes widened upon seeing mine." Clint looked down and upon looking up he fixed his gaze on no specific spot. It looked as if Clint was staring at something that only he could see. "The guy who was a kid like me pulled his gun down and then walked away putting his back to me. For some reason he trusted that I wouldn't stab or shoot him in the back." 

"Did you know that it was the Iron Wolf?" Clint nodded in response. He had known that the man had been the Iron Wolf because there had been rumors of the Wolf around the area. "Did he say anything to you?" Another nod in response to Sam's question. "He said not to make him regret this. That he wanted me to survive. That I had better not make the punishment that he was about to receive all for nothing. That he would pull me back from the grave to kill me again if I ended up dying some pathetic death." Natasha nodded, Fury's eyebrows drew closer together, it seemed as if Sam was analyzing all of the information. And Steve. Steve was clearly trying to come to grips that his best friend and Clint's twin brother were partners with Hydra. Tony's face was expressionless before he finally spoke up. 

"So, the Winter Soldier and the Iron Wolf both work for Hydra?" A shake of the head was all that was needed to get everyone in the room's attention. "When the two of them were training members of the Red Room they were scarcely ever left alone. There was always at least one man in the room. The two of them were never left alone." Steve looked up immediately upon hearing the last part of Natasha's sentence. 

"So you think that they're brainwashed?" A nod. "The Soldier at least was brainwashed or very good at pretending otherwise back then. The Wolf. The Wolf was different." Confusion and concern flashed across Clint's face upon hearing that there was a possibility that his brother might not be brainwashed. That he was doing this of his own accord. "What makes you say that?" He asked her with an unsteady voice. 

"The Wolf always ensured that he did whatever was necessary to keep the Soldier out of trouble. He was only five years old when I met him we were both young, but even then it was clear. And there was an occurrence which is hard to forget." Upon seeing everyone's faces especially Fury's and Hill's she continued on.

"There was a man with a book. A red book with a red star on the cover. The Soldier was out of the room and he was refusing to do as he was told. The man had him restrained before us and recited words from the book. I don't remember what they were but right after he had finished the boy obeyed every command and word which was asked of him afterward." 

"They brainwashed a five year-old boy!?" Tony was beyond outraged that Hydra had done this to a child. Forcing him to do things against his own free will. "So they used trigger words on the kid? Probably words which would not be used ever in a sentence together." Clint was even paler than now upon hearing that his twin brother was practically being held against his will. "The kid shot a man dead at five years old after having been commanded by his superiors." Eyes widened around the room. Everyone's except for Clint's. Clint's eyes narrowed upon hearing what Natasha was saying. 

"We have to find a way to stop the launch while saving both Barnes and… and my brother. I don't even know if his name is still William." He looked to Natasha and she frowned. "I never heard either of them referred to by anything other than Wolf or the Soldier." Clint's frown deepened even further. "We have to find a way guys." Everyone nodded. Steve more enthusiastically than the rest because of his desire to find Bucky. 

"I can't understand how this man joined Hydra right underneath my nose. I mean this man declined a Nobel Peace Prize because he said that peace was not an achievement, that it was a responsibility. Things like this are why I have trust issues."

"We definitely have to stop the launch." Upon seeing Fury opening a case it attracts everyone's attention. "What's that?" 

"Once the Helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites becoming fully weaponized. You'll need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own. One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remain operational tons of people are going to die." Tony looked Fury in the face along with Natasha and Clint before speaking up. 

"But by doing that we're not going to be able to save anything. We're not just taking down the carriers Fury we're essentially taking down SHIELD as well." Fury growled before responding that SHIELD had nothing to do with this. "You gave me the mission, and this is how it ends. SHIELD's been compromised. You said so yourself. HYDRA grew right underneath your nose and nobody even noticed." Upon hearing Fury say that he had noticed Tony remarked that they were meeting in a motherfucking cave instead of in their regular Helicarrier. "How many more people are going to pay the price Nick?" 

"Look I'm sorry that I had no idea about either Barnes or Clint's brother." Upon hearing the term Clint's brother the archer chuckled causing everyone to glance towards him in concern. "You see that? Fury isn't calling him by a name in case he has to end up taking him down. Well let me tell you something Nick! You will be taking him down over my dead body! You wouldn't have told us unless Natasha and Steve had found out about the two of them before you." The archer then stood up angrily shoving his chair back causing it to tip over and slam down onto the hard floor clattering loudly.

"Agent Barton." Steve's voice stopped Clint in his tracks. Clint had been headed for the door but upon hearing the tone in Steve's voice he figured he would at least listen to what Captain America needed to say. 

"We're going to need you to keep the Iron Wolf occupied. Can you do that?" The archer turned around and nodded in response to Steve's question. 

Outside on the bridge

Clint was standing with Steve looking over the side of the bridge trying to wrack his brain in an effort to remember when his life had ever been normal. But wait his life had never been normal so there went that idea out the window. 

"I'm not going to try and convince you that going after Barnes is a bad idea because I'm going after my twin brother and it would be hypocritical." Steve kept looking forward not looking at Clint. "But what are we going to do after we somehow manage to convince them both that they should come with us both? Or if we even can convince them to come in from the cold. These two will want Pierce's blood, they will not want him to remain alive and well." 

"I don't know." Clint and Steve turned upon hearing the footsteps of Sam walking towards where they were standing on the bridge. "How do you two even know that they can be saved. From what Natasha has said both of them sound as if they're brains have been scrambled up and then placed back in their heads with a control switch. They both might be the kind of guys that you stop rather than save." 

"He's my brother. My twin brother. I was brainwashed for only a short while and it still scares me that it'll happen again. I'm not going to let my brother go through more of it if I could do something to stop it." Steve nodded in agreement with what the archer had said. 

Random Bank Vault

"You will not disobey orders again." The sharp bite of the blade cutting through his flesh made the teenager want to lash out. But he knew better than to lash out against any of his handlers. They could hurt him or even worse go after James. No. There was no way that he would let them harm James. Especially since he had been at fault for not finishing his own mission. There had just been something about the other assassin which had made him pause. And upon seeing the familiar face. Well there had been no way that he was going to kill him after seeing that. Suddenly William Brandt was brought out of the flashback because of a sharp pain on his jaw. Rumlow had punched him. Will growled in response and glared in Rumlow's general direction hoping that maybe he had somehow gained some type of laser in his eyes so that he would be able to fry Rumlow to a crisp. 

"You paying attention now Willie?" Will's glare hardened if possible even more so upon hearing the nickname which Brock had decided upon years ago. Will waited until he turned away before turning to look at James, allowing himself a small smile upon seeing the man. But his happiness was short-lived as Alexander Pierce walked through the door. Everyone straightened up. Everyone that is except for Will. He visibly slouched, making it known that Pierce would never have his respect or his loyalty. Upon seeing Pierce's gaze harden at the sight of the Iron Wolf slouching in his presence Will smirked. Oh how he loved getting underneath the motherfuckers skin. Rather than stopping in front of him the motherfucker stopped in front of the Winter Soldier. Will frowned, his lip coming out in a pout. He had been hoping that the man would ask him for the mission report. Then he would have been able to mouth off at the motherfucker. He would've gotten backhanded or punched in the face as a result but it would have been more than worth it. 

"Mission report." 

James remained silent upon hearing Pierce. Pierce repeated the question with a firmer voice this time probably hoping to strike fear into him. But Will had faced scarier things out in the field. If only Pierce didn't have those motherfucking books. Upon seeing him strike his partner across the face he moved to attack Pierce but was stopped by the gaze which Pierce sent him. Along with the miniscule hand motion which James gave. 

"You try and attack me and I will separate the two of you for the rest of your usefulness. Straighten up. NOW!" He glared at the man as he straightened his stance as slow as allowed but not without a glare in Pierce's direction. 

"Now where were we? Oh yes, mission report." 

"The man on the bridge… Who was he?" Will inwardly smirked. Pierce was stupid enough to think that both Will and James hadn't learned how to trick him into thinking that James remembered less than he actually did. It had drastically decreased the amount of mind wipes over the years. "You met him earlier this week on another assignment." James nodded trying his best to look as if he was not thinking about it. 

"But not the redhead." Pierce's head whipped around to look at the Iron Wolf. "We knew her from before right? Natalia. Wasn't that her name?" He finished the last statement with a smirk as Pierce walked over towards where he was standing. "The work which you two have done has been a gift to mankind. You both have helped shape the world, and I need you both to do it once more. We are at a tipping point between order and chaos. Tomorrow we're going to give it that last push over the edge." The man got closer to Will before opening his mouth again. "You go against your orders, if you don't do what you're told I will use the book and the Soldier will go away for a long time. You understand?" The Iron Wolf's gaze hardened upon hearing the threat for what it was. Blackmail.The man knew fully well that he only had to threaten harm emotional or physical to either partner to get what he wanted in the end. It would have been pathetic if the love for each other wasn't so great. 

"Do I have to use the words or will you both obey?" Neither chose to verbally answer. Choosing rather to simply nod in response. Pierce seemed satisfied by this because he turned around and walked away from the two. Will looked at the back of the man as he walked away. There was exactly thirty ways that he could have killed him just now and no one would have missed Pierce. "Get them ready." The two men walked towards where all of their gear was so that they could get ready for the hell that they were going to be put through. Upon entering the room Will sighed in relief. No one ever followed the two of them in here because both of the assassins knew that it would have been utterly foolish and idiotic to try an escape from the room. 

Will turned around to be met with a pair of lips and a metal hand on the back of his neck. Will smirked briefly before getting more involved. Placing his tongue in James' mouth Will used his own to enjoy that taste which was so unique. Will groaned upon feeling that same mouth move lower down only to latch onto the underside of his jaw just below his ear. James began to suck and bite creating moans from Will's mouth which made the Soldier smirk happily. He always knew the exact ways to get the most beautiful noises out of his lover's mouth. A loud banging on the door from the outside interrupted what had been steadily moving on towards pleasure accompanied by the voice of Brock Rumlow telling them to get their ass' moving. Will groaned aloud at having been cockblocked by Rumlow yet again. The look on James' face was enough to tell Will that he thought that his misery was hilarious. 

"Yeah you laugh now. But will you laugh when next the time that I have your cock in my mouth I just pull off and leave you unsatisfied?" Will accompanied this question with a smirk as James placed his hands on Will's hips pulling him in so he could kiss him on the neck. "You would never do that. It would be more of a punishment for you." Will groaned loudly as James pulled away. "You're such a tease!" 

"It takes one to know one." Will just shrugged before stripping down so that he could pull on the tactical gear which was more commonly worn than not. "Yes but I make up for it don't I?" James grinned as he pulled on the final piece of his gear slinging the rifle on his back ensuring that the strap wouldn't get in the way. Will who was placing the rest of his knives on his person didn't realize that James was as close as he was when the man placed a kiss on the back of his neck but he moved towards the mouth. "Yeah you do. William. You most certainly do." The two of them pulled away as the door opened revealing Rumlow who was obviously ready to go. "You have five minutes, hurry it up."  
Looking one last time so as to ensure that neither of them was forgetting anything important before the two of them headed out. James spoke up. 

"We can escape during this mission Will. We can in the chaos get away from HYDRA. And then take them down ourselves." Will nodded in agreement but then remembered something. "What about Captain America? You're childhood friend? Don't you want to meet him again?" James shook his head.  
"Not right now. Not like this. Maybe in a few months after I've been able to possibly recover any more memories that HYDRA took from me. Besides, I'm not the man that he remembers. I'm not Bucky, I'm James. Your James. " Will nodded in agreement, there were still some memories that he had yet to recover because of the HYDRA mind wipes.  
"We need to make sure that Pierce goes down." James replied that Fury would more than likely take care of that for them before they knocked on the door letting Rumlow know that they were ready. "We'll stay together." James kissed him quickly on the mouth before Rumlow could open the door.

Above the Fight

"Hey Cap how do we know the good guys from the bad guys?"  
"If they're shooting at you then they're bad." Sam nods but veers sharply to the right to avoid being hit in the face with a bullet from a sniper rifle. Upon looking down he sees one of the guys that they've been looking for. "Clint! I found your boy. He's at your ten o'clock." Sam watches as Clint turns around and as he notices his brother Sam can see him pause before heading towards the Iron Wolf. 'Good luck.' Was the last thing that Sam thought before flying off to help out Steve. 

Down on the Ground

Will vaguely heard the sound of movement in the background and moved just in time to avoid being hit in the shoulder with an arrow. Hawkeye. Alexander Pierce had told him to research thoroughly about the man before he would inevitably have to face him once again. What both Will and James hadn't understood was why he looked so much like the archer. It was probably a clone, Will would not have put it past Pierce. All of the information created so as to create an opportunity for Pierce to take James away from him again. 

That asshole would do something like creating a clone to trick him. And with James not being here to give his own opinion of the look-alike standing right in front of him. The only downside was that even if James had been told why the archer and him looked so much alike, Pierce would have erased it from his memory, he reflected with a frown. 

Turning around to face Clint Barton he trained his rifle on the man waiting for the man to make a move against him. 

"You need to stand down. There's a reason as to why the two of us look so much alike. I don't want to hurt you." Will's eyes narrowed behind the tactical mask upon hearing what the man had just said. No. It had to be a trick. Thinking too hard on what the man had said was causing his brain to hurt, and images of two screaming children flashed through his mind. He shook his head as if to clear the images from his head, choosing rather to focus on the archer right in front of him. 

"That's just what someone who is trying to trick me would say. You're probably just a clone, something that Pierce has created to trick me." 

The archer rolled his eyes at what had just been said aloud, clearly thinking the idea to be ridiculous, but in regard to HYDRA there were much more ridiculous things than clones. The two continued to stand there at a stalemate, Clint was honestly surprised at how the other man had not yet attacked him yet.

"Or there's an even simpler reason." These words were said just as the Wolf chose to attack Hawkeye, putting the archer on the defensive as he tried to get an opportunity to explain just why they had the same face. The brothers continued to exchange their bone jarring blows on each other, both fighters striking and lashing out at an incredible speed. One which was clearly having no trouble going after the other with all of the skill and aggression beat into him by his instructors and by Alexander Pierce over the years. 

"What do you remember of your childhood?!" Clint yelled at the other man while avoiding a particularly nasty looking right hook. This question seemed to make the other man angrier, upon hearing Clint asking about his childhood. His childhood had been nothing but torture from HYDRA, the only good part about it had been James. But Pierce had gladly told him exactly how he had gotten in the hands of HYDRA. 

"My parents gave me away to HYDRA! My family cared nothing about me!" Will was confused upon seeing an expression which could only be described as rage come across the other man's face. Fighting this man was weird to Will. He felt as if he had met the man before, and there was something other than that which made him very familiar. Apart from the identical face obviously. 

"They told me that you had died! You're my twin brother! HYDRA took you away when you were young. I didn't know where to look because every single time it came up with the result of you being dead!" 

"You're just lying to stop me. As soon as I stop fighting you you'll either kidnap me for your own use or kill me! Besides, you just don't want to die." Will's blows steadily acquired more and more force as his anger and rage began to grow. How dare the man in front of him try and trick him into thinking that they could possibly be related. 

"You were born on January 7th, 1971. Your parents are Harold and Edith Barton. The same as me." The archer winced as Will landed a particularly hard blow on his ribs, but what he said seemed to have triggered something in the Iron Wolf. The man stopped fighting him, but not even a second later the Iron Wolf grabbed his head with both of his hands as if he was experiencing an excruciating headache.

When the pain seemed to stop, or at least lessen, the assassin looked at Hawkeye with what could only be some kind of recognition. The main emotion which seemed to be prominent in his eyes was confusion. Confusion as to how exactly a man claiming to be his twin brother could be standing right here in front of him after all of this time. 

"Clint?" 

"We can get a DNA test if you don't believe me, or if you need further evidence other than my word." His twin nodded as way of response, clearly still confused as to how this was happening. Will's head felt as if it had been split open from the pain, there were images. Images of two children lying in a crib. One which was then taken out of the crib, and away from the other twin, both of them crying, wanting to be reunited with each other. 

"Someone kidnapped you and faked your death too early for me to get to know you." Will nodded hesitantly, and then reached up and pulled down the tactical mask that he was wearing so that Clint got a perfect view of his twin's face. Clint audibly gasped. Natasha had been correct. It was eerie to have a person have almost the same exact face as you. 

"I can't allow you to help HYDRA win though. Please don't make me take you down." Will smirked in response to what his twin brother had said. Which confused Clint because why was his brother smirking? Was he smirking because of the idea of Clint trying to take him out? Or was it something else entirely?

"I'm not on HYDRA'S side. I'm loyal only to James." Clint was confused for a moment then realized that the Winter Soldier must be James, he wasn't used to hearing the name James in regard to the Winter Soldier. Then without warning Will suddenly reached for his brother and Clint realized how stupid he had been to trust the twin that he had never met before today, Natasha was never going to let him live this down. And as the Iron Wolf shoved his brother down onto the ground all that Clint was thinking was how had this gone so terribly wrong. 

Gunfire sounded above the two of them which would have hit them both if Will hadn't been as quick as he was to act. Clint smiled upon looking at his brother. He really hoped that Natasha was getting on as good as he was, probably not though. The smile that had come so quickly to his face was ripped off as soon as he had looked at the front of his uniform. 

Blood. 

Why was there blood? He hadn't been shot. His heart stopped upon looking at the Iron Wolf. All of that blood which was covering his uniform was coming from his brother's body. His brother had been shot protecting him. Not even thinking twice he started yelling over the comms while he tried to slow down the bleeding enough for someone to come and help him. 

"He's down! The Wolf is down!" 

In the Building

"Did you get my flowers? I'm glad that you're here Nick." Fury glared at Pierce with a look that would have frozen hell over.  
"I thought that you had me killed by using your Soldier and your Iron Wolf." Pierce smirked upon hearing the names of the two most valuable weapons at their disposal. "You know how the game works."

"Is that what you say so that you can feel alright when you have a five year-old murder a man?" Pierce's eyes widened. "You seem to forget that Natasha was Red Room."  
"Those two weapons have brought more order for the world than SHIELD could ever hope to bring." 

"That's what maniacs say to rationalize the fact that you used and abused two men for decades. How long have you been brainwashing Clint's twin brother?!" Rather than looking shocked which Fury had expected Pierce showed pride which made Fury even angrier. "That boy has been in HYDRA's grasp for decades. But I've never been able to make him loyal to anyone except for that blasted Soldier. He's just like his fucking twin brother. He has a fucking loud mouth and even louder opinions." Whatever Pierce was going to say was cut off. Fury looked up to see Tony Stark who had with an amazing level of stealth for the normally loud and often times obnoxious man, knocked Alexander Pierce unconscious.

"You wanted him alive right?" Fury shook his head as Stark, Romanov and Fury gathered Pierce up so that they could transport him back to a secure location.  
But not before the three of them released all of the information which both S.H.I.E.L.D. and H.Y.D.R.A. had kept concealed from the rest of the world, using the unconscious Pierce's eye for the retinal scan, leaving the other members of the council dumbstruck as to what had just happened. 

"You know that both Barton and you have no alias' anymore? No contingency plans or methods of protection? There is no way that the authorities will not come and arrest the man that is his twin brother? Along with possibly Clint as well? Along with Sergeant Barnes?" Fury said to Natasha who was looking anywhere but at Fury. "We'll find a way. Besides, Tony will do any and everything in his power to keep Clint from being arrested, along with keeping that man happy, which includes his brother. He has a personal interest in that goal. Besides, I'd like to see someone try and arrest the best friend of Steve Rogers from World War II." Natasha said with a smirk, and then looked at Tony who had a shit-eating grin on his face. And after she had managed to decide what exactly she was going to say she looked to Fury and spoke her mind. 

"There is still the Avengers. As long as they will have us we have a family. And family helps each other out right?" Natasha looked to Tony with an almost desperate look as if she expected Tony to either deny that they were family. Or even worse that he would give them no help at all in regard to both the Iron Wolf and the Winter Soldier.  
Tony merely gave her a smirk and then with his usual level of blunt honesty he said what was on his mind. 

"You will always have a home with the Avengers Natasha. Both you and Clint, and any other kinds of weird family members that you may bring along for the ride." It seemed as if an enormous weight had been lifted off of Natasha's shoulders upon hearing what Tony had to say about the Avengers and Clint and her being family. The only bad thing was how were they going to keep Tony from killing the Winter Soldier and the Iron Wolf when he found out that both men had had a hand in killing his parents. Natasha knew that it had to be soon though. Because the longer that they waited to tell the man the worse that it would be in regard to how hurt Tony would feel because of the secrecy. Tony was many things, but trusting was not one of them, and if he couldn't trust the Avengers. Who could he trust?They were going to have to rebuild SHIELD from the bottom up though, and Natasha had no idea who was even going to do it. For she had a very good idea that after this entire Winter Soldier and Iron Wolf ordeal, Nick Fury was going to be either retired or hiding from the rest of the world. Which in her opinion was the same exact thing. But someone was going to have to rebuild SHIELD and the Avengers were probably going to be a big part of it. Then her blood ran cold as she heard the transmission that came over the comms before it gave way to nothing but static from Clint's end. And upon looking to both Tony and Fury, she knew that they were both feeling the exact same way. 

Up on the Helicarrier 

"I'm here! I'm still on the Helicarrier. Where are you?" Steve asked Sam as he was trying his best to make his way through the Helicarrier, not aware of the Winter Soldier who was closer than he knew, looking on from a distance."I'm grounded Cap. Sorry that I won't be available to come up there and save your ass." Steve laughed in response to what the other had said, trying to keep calm in light of how bad the situation was right now. Just as Steve had finally been close to accomplishing what he had come for the Soldier appeared out of nowhere, staring at him with a look that showed just what he thought of Steve trying to mess with the mission that he had been commanded to stop. 

Please. Don't make me do this, people are going to die."And just as Steve was about to throw his shield at the other man, the Soldier looked terrified. Steve was confused, there was nothing that he had said that should have even in the slightest terrified Bucky so what could have possibly? That's when his blood froze. There was static coming over from Clint's end on the comms, the static making it increasingly hard for him to focus on what exactly Clint was yelling through the comm. But there were words that were coming over which made him freeze, and upon looking up not even a full second later he realized that Bucky wasn't standing in front of him anymore. Rather than wasting an opportunity he took the opportunity, that he had because of how Bucky seemed to have just disappeared. And as soon as he had inserted the chip, making it so that Hill would be able to override Hydra's control of the Helicarriers, he listened closer to the comms and started making his way towards the exit while also looking for Bucky, not wanting to possibly leave him behind.

"Down! He's down!" Then silence rang through the air from the archer's end which was not scaring just Steve but Natasha as well. Steve quickened his pace as he headed towards his way out of the Helicarrier, and he was getting even more worried by the second when he saw that there was no sign at all of his childhood friend. And then he realized why.  
There was a lone Quinjet which was heading away from the Helicarrier that he was on, Bucky. Why was he making his way away from the mission which had been forced upon him by both Alexander Pierce and Hydra? Unless. 

The Wolf. Was that the man who had gone down? Steve couldn't worry about that right now though, he needed to get off this deathtrap first before it gave way beneath him. 

Down on the ground

Clint cursed as he turned off his communicator which was sending static in his ear. No possible help was going to come from the rest of the Avengers more than likely. Thinking of every scenario as he was putting as much pressure on the bullet wounds. Which were steadily leaking blood onto the concrete underneath his brother, his mind was freaking out. The motions which his body was making were all being done as if by someone else. His brother's blood was staining the ground, a bright red, and filling the air with the scent of copper which made him want to heave. His brother was bleeding out on the ground, and there was really nothing that he could do. But then he looked up and saw his inspiration. 

Avengers Tower. Tony. Taking a deep breath, he looked down at his brother and then sighed deeply knowing how badly this was going to hurt the man, but how was he going to get him into the tower by himself?A motion of feet had Clint instantly pulling his bow on the person who had been stupid enough to walk up behind the assassin and upon seeing who exactly it was his heart nearly stopped beating. The Soldier. Was he here to kill his brother because of his injuries? Was he here to kill him because he wouldn't be able to finish the mission which had been given to them by HYDRA? Killing Steve Rogers and preventing their team from messing with HYDRA's plans? If he was then that man had another thing coming.What happened next shocked Clint down to his core as the Soldier lowered his weapon, and then placed it on the ground, pushing it towards Clint. The man then rushed over to Clint and helped pick up the Wolf, looking to Clint as if to say get a move on as the two of them headed towards Avengers Tower, and the only place which would probably be able to save his twin brother right now. 

As soon as they reached the elevator he looked to the Winter Soldier who was holding his brother as if his own life rested in the very hands of his twin brother. Then it hit him. Oh, hell Tony would get an enormous kick out of the revelation that Sergeant James Barnes was at least bisexual if not completely gay. Then he realized something, he needed to ensure that everyone that would be in the room treating his brother would not be an enormous security leak in the making and pulled out the phone which Tony had given him. Pulling out his phone nearly caused the Soldier to shoot him right between the eyes before Clint was able to get his attention. 

"Hey, hey, hey, hey. Look, I need to ensure that everyone inside of that room that will be treating my brother is not a security risk alright? I can't let anyone outside of a select few that I know won't tell HYDRA that you're here." The Soldier seemed to ponder this for a moment as the elevator continued to climb up towards the medical wing before he nodded in response. Really the lack of vocabulary from the man was starting to unnerve Hawkeye as he dialed the number of Helen Cho.

"Helen. Yeah look we have one of those situations that was hypothetical in your contract. The one in which you need to get rid of anyone who may not be so good at keeping secrets, or that you may not trust despite that big huge confidentiality agreement." The Soldier listened in on the conversation as the woman on the other woman did not even pause before telling the archer that it would be handled and asking is she needed to prepare any sort of special equipment. "You might need to get-"The archer paused and then looked to the Soldier who looked at the man as way of response. 

"Do you know what kind of blood type he is?" The man nodded before letting him know that his partner was AB negative, luckily that was the exact same blood type that Clint was. He didn't focus too long on this aspect before he told Helen and then hung up prepared to any moment have to carry his twin brother towards a hospital bed where he may or may not survive. But if he had anything to say about it then he would go through hell and back to ensure that he would. And judging from the man next to him and how he had abandoned his entire mission to save his partner, he knew that he would as well. 

Meanwhile…

"Hey, does anyone know where Clint is?" Tony's question caught both Natasha and Fury's attention, where exactly was the archer? Ever since the static that had come across his channel during the fight no one had heard from him. "JARVIS? Can you locate Clint?" Everyone waited with baited breath, hoping beyond hope that the man was not hurt too badly other than the usual fighting injuries.

"He is in medical sir." Tony's reaction showed clear panic. As he didn't even wait for JARVIS to finish before he called Clint using the suit leaving Natasha and Fury to deal with Pierce but leaving a backwards comment that there was a room that the two would be able to store him in the tower, and that they should ask JARVIS. The two looked at the billionaire as he flew away before they place Pierce in the truck and drove towards the tower where they both hoped with bated breath that Hawkeye would not be on death's door. 

In the Tower

Clint had never been more thankful that Tony had installed a full medical floor complete with an operating room in the tower until now. As Helen Cho and her team were wheeling the Iron Wolf towards the room where they would be operating on his twin brother both Clint and the Winter Soldier tried to follow. Only to be stopped by Helen Cho.  
Clint looked nervously over at the other man in the room who had helped to bring his twin brother here to the medical ward. There was no way that that man was going to let his brother in any way shape or form out of his sight. 

"Yeah, no. That's not going to work. Because this guy over here." Clint pointed to the Soldier with a jerk of his hand in the man's direction and a serious face.  
"This guy isn't going to let that guy out of his sight." Helen seemed at this point willing to do anything to save the other man's life, did not even glance over her shoulder. As the team pushed the man in the direction of the operating room she did not look back. Picking up a kit to gather blood she handed it to the Soldier, before telling the two that Clint needed to give blood if the man was going to live. "Get started on that blood idiots!" The voice of Helen Cho jarred the two men out of their thoughts as James and Clint went over to a hospital bed and started the process of getting blood from Clint. As Clint slowly watched the blood coming out of his arm, he looked into the face of the man that had killed so many people over the years and could not help but open his mouth.

"Did my brother help kill as many people as you did?" The Soldier seemed to contemplate this for a moment before nodding in way of response. The man was clearly trying to give as little information as humanly possible just in case the Soldier and the Wolf had to make a run for it after the surgery. Clint wanted to know exactly why and how Hydra had gotten their hands on his brother. The only thing he knew about was the kidnapping, but why? Why would they kidnap his brother out of so many other children? The answers seemed to elude him as both he and the Soldier sat there in silence, before he thought of a question which he needed the answer to.

"What is my brother's name? Is it still William Barton?" The Soldier shook his head causing Clint to frown. "Is his first name still William?" 

"He prefers Will." The voice of the other man surprised Clint, mainly due to the fact that he didn't expect the Soldier to speak. Or, Bucky, James, whatever his name was. "One last question and then I'll leave you alone." James gave him a look which clearly showed that he knew it wouldn't be his last question. "Alright, not my very last question but at least the last one for now, or at least until Will gets out of surgery." And upon receiving a motion from the other man for him to continue on with his question he asked the man what name he preferred. "James. I'm not Bucky anymore." Clint's eyes widened upon hearing what the man had to say. James knew who he was? From what everyone else said and insinuated, the Winter Soldier would probably have no idea whatsoever of who he was. The group had thought it possible, because of the obvious brainwashing done to his younger brother at just five years old. 

"You know who you were?" The surprise from Clint was disguised, but the other man hid nothing when he looked at Clint with humor before saying that he thought that the earlier question had been his last. Clint frowned before looking away, not expecting to receive an answer from James. And even still he nearly missed the answer. "Not entirely. Both our minds have been messed with. Neither of us can be who we once were." The two men did not speak for a long time, the awkward silence which was nearly suffocating. When Clint had finally gotten enough blood, James withdrew the tube from his arm and then knocked on the door letting Helen know that they had the blood. 

An assistant exited the room and before either man could even get a word out to ask about whether Will was going to make it the nurse hurried back into the room. James immediately set up camp next to the doors to the operating room so that he could listen in on the surgery which was going on. Clint could tell that he was listening with every fiber of his being to ensure that the people in the next room were not doing anything other than removing the bullets and ensuring that he would live. The only reason that he wasn't standing at the window looking in was that he knew that it could possibly affect the care which these doctors were giving his brother. 

James was not giving them the same luxury though. The assassin was looking in through the window almost as if he was letting Helen know that he would take action. That he would take action should any of them make an attempt towards hurting Will. Eventually James sat down next to the doors so that he would be able to listen to everything that was going on in the room, but far enough away from the doors so that he would not be in the way. The two of them continued to sit in silence for a moment, both assassin's listening closely for any sign that the surgery going on in the next room was going badly. The surgery it seemed was going as well as could be expected from the lack of panic in the next room. That did not mean that either of the assassins were not stressed beyond belief, which was obvious from the way each man was tensed as if waiting for an attack. Clint's voice nearly caused James to jump when the archer began to talk to him. 

"Tony is going to have so many twin jokes after this. Or clone jokes. More than likely it will be more twin jokes. But hey, that's what you get from being involved with a Stark." The statement was accompanied with a laugh which was abruptly cut off upon looking to the Winter Soldier. The look which Clint received upon saying this unnerved him. James was looking at the other man as if he was not even there, it was almost as if he was looking completely through him entirely. 

"December 1991. Kill and retrieve contents in Howard Stark's possession. Kill Howard and Maria Stark. Mission complete. William Grant Brandt safe." Awareness slowly crept back into James' eyes, allowing him to see the concern which crept up on Clint's face as he realized the gravity of what had just been revealed. "Aww crap." Confusion was the first expression which ran across James' face as soon as he had heard what the archer had said. He was confused mainly because what did the archer have to curse about? There had not been anything that had happened for the man to curse about, had there? As soon as the archer spoke up James knew what must have been the cause for the concern on the archer's part  
.  
"Did HYDRA ever come up with a way to control you against your will? For example, if you tried to go against their wishes, did they have a backup plan?" A nod, this must have been what had concerned the other man. There had probably been a word which had triggered an old mission report, maybe it was about someone that the archer had known? That would explain the lapse in memory. "Do you remember a mission from December 1991?" Taking a moment to think about that particular year caused pain which made him wince as a result. A classified mission then. Probably a mission that he had gone against orders and HYDRA had not been able to threaten him with Will.  
"No. Did I kill someone that you knew?" Negative. 

"It hurts for me to try and remember, so HYDRA probably didn't have Will there to threaten me with, so I probably was acting up or going against orders. HYDRA more than likely triggered me in this case because then I would not be able to remember the mission by myself without key words. They do this to Will and me to ensure security of their secrets even under the threat of death." Clint looked uneasy upon hearing the Soldier explaining what exactly HYDRA could have done to James and his brother. The way in which it was explained was clinical, as if nothing was wrong with the fact that the two assassins had been forced to commit assassinations and even different actions throughout the years.  
"Well I'm pretty sure that you killed Tony's parents." The other man tensed up the moment that these words left Clint's mouth. 

"Tony, is he going to hurt Will? Your brother?" A glimmer of a smile ran across the archer's face upon hearing the concern for his brother. Because even though he had known his brother for less than a day, it was good to know that someone apart from him cared about Will. The Soldier obviously cared about him if the man had chosen to abandon his mission, going against his handlers to save a possibly dying Will. No. Not dying, he was going to live.

"I'm not sure. I doubt that he will harm my brother or you without evidence that you killed them voluntarily. If you or my brother were under mind control. He will undoubtedly examine every piece of evidence before talking with you. But you can't wait until he finds out about this from another source, and I refuse to keep something like this from Tony when he deserves to know. So you need to find a way to tell him." A nod was all that Clint received in response to what he had just told James, who was looking at the floor as if it held all of the answers to his problems. 

"You're forgetting one fact though. Will might have helped in killing the Starks. I don't remember the assassination, I don't even remember killing the two of them. So, for all that we know Will could have been there as well." The statement rang through the air as the two men went back to their silence, listening in once again to ensure that the surgery was going smoothly.  
"We've all killed people. Even Tony. None of us are saints." James did not even look up when he heard the archer talk, he continued to look down. Knowing that the words which he had said rang true, but how do two people who have done what Will and himself had done have a life outside of what the two of them had known for decades? What parts of their missions had been them and not their handlers? Which parts had not been the conditioning which had been ingrained into the two of them? Neither of the assassins talked for the longest time as they listened in on the surgery in the next room, the seconds seemed to stretch into minutes, and the minutes into hours. 

WHAM!!

The resounding sound of something slamming into the double sliding doors to the room had both assassins armed and at the ready, each with a weapon drawn and aimed at the door. Keeping them aimed at the door even as they heard someone who was continually cursing out the doors which had been slammed into. Clint lowered his weapon upon seeing who walked through the doors which had finally slid open for the person who had slammed into them because they had not opened fast enough for him earlier. The sight of said person brought an amused smile to his face upon realizing that it was Tony who had caused all of the commotion in the waiting room. As Clint motioned for James to lower his weapon he let out a deep breath, relieved that Tony had not been shot by James. 

Soon after looking Tony over with a closer eye and realizing that there looked to be no obvious life-threatening injuries he felt as if a weight had been taken off his chest. The entire time that he had been focused on his brother and how he was going to possibly pull through being shot so many times he had also been concerned about Tony. Not because the man could not protect himself, Clint just never liked to see the other man hurt. It was Tony who would constantly remind him every single time that he was covered literally from head to toe in armor. Which would help in lowering the stress and the worry until the very next fight where it would happen all over again, and the same went for Tony. What was the expression on his boyfriend's face for though, he hadn't done any pranks on the other man that he could remember, so what was the expression of anger and worry for? A thousand different questions ran through his mind until he thought of something. His last statement over the comms. 

"Oops." Clint said aloud as he reached up, and upon turning his comm back on hearing a blast of audio coming from the device, he looked to Tony with an embarrassed smile and shrug of his shoulders. The look which he received from Tony was one which was clearly unamused, a look which clearly said 'really?' Clint only shrugged once again in return, embarrassed at how he had forgotten to turn the comm back on, but there had been more important matters at hand. He was going to get it from Natasha later though. 

Clint was distracted from these thoughts as he watched the inventor making his way over his way. Tony slowly placed his hand on the back of the archer's neck in what was meant to be a comforting action, as well as slow so Clint knew what was going on. After resting his forehead against the archers for a moment Tony moved to capture the man's lips with his own. Relishing in the fact that the man that he loved was alive, even if he was covered in a few bruises and scrapes. Being with this man-made Clint feel a calm which he had not felt since he had left Tony for the mission which Fury had sent him on before this enormous shit storm had come about. As he kissed Tony he felt completely calm and grounded even though his brother was possibly dying in the next room, Tony was helping him to be distracted from this fact. When Tony pulled back Clint would deny venomously that he had let out a small whine as the two separated. He had missed his person so much. 

"Not to Ruin the moment, but Natasha is probably going to kill you. She kept saying your name over the comms and you weren't answering." 

Any calm that had been present in Clint's mind vanished immediately upon hearing about Natasha continually asking for him over the comms. The archer's eyes widened in shock as he realized what Tony had said. The adrenaline high from the earlier fight was diminishing, making every single ache and pain easily evident. Then he remembered something else that was incredibly important through the impending adrenaline crash. The Soldier. His brother. How would the Soldier react upon seeing Natasha? How would Natasha react? His brother? The two men had had a hand in training the Black Widow but that had been before the Winter Soldier had put a bullet through her so that he could get the target that he was after. And he had no idea as to how his brother was going to react to seeing Natasha after all of this time. The thing which brought Clint back to the here and now was Tony's own ramblings which always seemed to manage to make him smile. 

"Natasha might not choose to kill you if I provide her with every bit of information which I gathered about the Iron Wolf and the Winter Soldier. I had Jarvis gather every bit of information that I could get my hands on before Natasha chose to dump everything on the internet. I also had Jarvis delete every single mention or even insinuation about the Winter Soldier and the Iron Wolf that I found in this information." 

"I figured that it would give us a head start over HYDRA on finding both your brother and the Winter Soldier." Tony abruptly stopped talking. Whatever the inventor had been about to say next had obviously left the man's brain as he finally seemed to notice the other man who was in the room. Clint could visualize the cogs which were turning inside of Tony's head as he realized that someone was in the operating room, causing Clint to smirk as he watched Tony thinking up scenarios of who it could possibly be. As soon as Tony had asked his boyfriend if Helen Cho was in the operating room, and upon receiving a nod from Clint he saw Tony's eyes narrow, and then widen upon coming to a realization. Looking first from Clint and then to James, the billionaire looked as if he was trying to decide what to say. 

"If everyone else is on their way towards this tower, then who is in the operating room Clint?" Everything going on in the room seemed to still as Tony awaited the answer which the archer knew that Tony had already figured out for himself. 

"Shit." 

"Yeah. Shit just about sums this entire situation up. You're just lucky that Natasha hasn't arrived yet to try and strangle you." Clint winced upon hearing this statement from Tony, nodding in reply upon hearing it. Upon looking to the man sitting next to the operating room doors Tony noticed the look that he was being given. It was a look which clearly expressed the fact that if anyone tried to go near the man who Helen Cho was operating on that he would kill them without hesitation. James had been like a shadow up until now. Quiet and blending into the environment around him even though he was surrounded by white walls dressed in nothing but black with a metal arm which Tony was dying to get a look at. The man now was like that of a guard dog. Daring anyone to come near what he was protecting. Clint seemed to be the only thing that was not currently at risk, Tony was concerned that if he made one wrong move that the man would shoot him right between his eyes. So with this risk at the forefront of his mind Tony thought over what exactly his next question should be before deciding to ask the two assassins in the room. 

"How bad is the Iron Wolf hurt Clint?" Tony waited with bated breath to hear how bad the other assassin was hurt. It was obviously bad enough that the man was being operated on, but when it came to the people that Tony surrounded himself with the possibilities were never ending. Clint stiffened up as soon as the question had come out of his boyfriend's mouth. The archer grasped both of his hands and chose to look down rather than at Tony, and upon looking to the Soldier the other man had a similar reaction.  
So, bad then. Incredibly bad. 

"Will. His name is Will, Tony." The sound of his boyfriend's voice seemed to surprise Tony, but he merely nodded in response to what Clint had said to him looking to the doors of the operating room with concern. What would Clint do if his brother didn't survive? He dreaded to even think about that possibility.  
"Well then it's a good thing that all of the info that I acquired about the Iron Wolf and the Winter Soldier I transferred over to JARVIS before deleting everything. Isn't it? It'll make it that much easier to hide the two of them while the upcoming media shit storm explodes. Then after it can calm down somewhat we can figure out what exactly to do about you both." The last part Tony meant more for the Winter Soldier and the man showed little to no reaction. Until suddenly James' head shot up looking to the door, causing the other two men in the room to wonder what exactly had caused him to do so. Then suddenly the doors to the room slammed open which solved any and all confusion the two had felt. 

"It's going to be difficult to keep these two secret Tony, because we have Alexander Pierce in our custody. Fury wanted to question the man to find out exactly when he had betrayed SHIELD and so that he can reveal any and everything that the man knows about the Winter Soldier and the Iron Wolf." Natasha glared first at Tony with a look that had the inventor fidgeting and wanting to be anywhere but in the same room as the female assassin. When Natasha looked to Clint the archer had the good sense to remain as still as possible, knowing that trying to move or get away from her would only make it worse for him in the long run. 

"AND YOU!!" Clint actually flinched upon hearing Natasha yelling at him, he had only heard Natasha yell with this kind of fury less than a handful of times during their entire time as partners, only once had it been him. 

"YOU DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR COMM AND THEN FORGET TO TURN THE THING BACK ON!" Choosing not to say anything in return to what had just been yelled at him, he merely nodded in response to what Natasha had just yelled at him. After seeing Clint nod in reply to what had been said the woman breathed in deeply, almost as if she was ridding herself of the murderous intent which had accompanied her all the way back to the tower. The sound of another voice brought everyone in the rooms attention to the assassin who was sitting next to the operating room doors, and upon seeing him Natasha felt millions of emotions flooding to the front of her mind. 

"Pierce is alive?" James was no longer standing in the waiting room, it was clearly the Winter Soldier who had taken his place upon hearing that Alexander Pierce was alive. Slowly the man approached Natasha who tensed up, waiting to see what the other man's action would be towards her. No one in the room said anything but Clint was prepared to help in taking down the Soldier if he made any type of move towards his partner. "Fury wants as much information that he can get from him before we decide what to do. More than likely it will be something of Fury's own creation." Every person in the room watched, all of them waiting to see what exactly the Soldier was going to do. The relief which was felt from every person in the room when he chose to not attack Natasha was evident. "That man deserves nothing short of torture for the rest of his life. You cannot believe anything that Pierce will tell you, everything that he says is a lie." 

"There were journal's found at his home which talk of many of the things which he did to the two of you, mainly Will. He will be punished but the two of you will be needed to verify some of the things which he has written." James' eyes narrowed upon hearing what was being said aloud, there was no way that he would be promising anything in regards to that man before Will could make his own decision. "Pierce documented almost religiously about when and how he kidnapped Will, James." The use of his name caused the man to look to the Black Widow. There was a look which could be defined as sentimentality, but the woman had known the two of them a long time ago. 

"I will not make any decisions until Will is able to have his own choice in this matter. And I already knew that Pierce had heavily documented about Will. Pierce always had a journal around where Will and myself were concerned. Everyone in the room seemed to be absorbing this knowledge when the Soldier spoke up asking them where their Captain was. The calm which Natasha had felt upon hearing James' decision vanished as quickly as it had come, this was obviously a question which had been expected but was obviously one which she had been dreading. "I convinced him to assist Fury in gathering everything from Pierce's home. The fact that you were his best friend years ago was something which I did not want to be dealing with when I felt like killing Clint because I had no idea as to whether he was being operated on. I can only deal with so much at one time." 

"How exactly did you manage to convince Cap to stay away from the tower? The tower where his best friend from the forties is currently in? Did you drug him?" 

"No, I did not. Nothing as nefarious as that." And upon seeing everyone in the room look to her, each of them obviously wanting to know how in the world she had convinced the most stubborn man on their team to actually listen to her when the man he had thought dead was in Avengers tower she sighed before answering. "Alright fine I guilt tripped him, are you happy? Along with Sam's help, he's going to give us a call if he leaves Pierce's home." The comment seemed to lighten up the room until each person remembered why exactly they were here. 

"How bad is he Clint?" Natasha asked as she sat down next to her partner as he was clearly trying to keep himself together as his brother was being operated on in the next room. "There was a lot of blood Nat, I don't know exactly how many times he was shot. I just know that right before it happened we were talking and then when he came at me I thought how incredibly stupid I had been to let my guard down like that. Then there was blood everywhere." Natasha opened her mouth as if to respond to what she had just been told by her partner when the entire room went silent except for the sound of James struggling to open the operating room doors. 

For all that could be heard from the operating room was the deafening sound of the heart monitor which rang out, signaling that Will was flat lining in the next room.


	2. Ghost

Pierce's Home

"How did no one ever realize that Pierce was bat shit crazy?" Sam looked to Steve upon asking his question as the two of them continued to search the house of Alexander Pierce. The two of them had been searching the man's house for thirty minutes now and Sam could tell that Steve was going insane. That he was steadily going insane because he had been conned into helping with the search of Pierce's house rather than meeting up with the childhood friend he had thought dead. Sam thought that it was probably for the best in retrospect, because from the message which had rang over the comms during the fight it was obvious that someone had been hurt. 

"Probably because Pierce had more than enough time to perfect the persona that he wanted everyone to believe to be true. And after enough time everyone believed that it was true, not choosing to question and keep in check a very powerful man." The sound of a book being tossed to the side was all that Sam heard before an earthshattering vibration shook the entire home. The sound was coming from the bedroom which the two men immediately ran towards in hope of discovering what exactly was causing all of the noise. 

Upon reaching the bedroom there was a room which both Sam and Steve knew had not been there when they had searched the room the first time around. Rather than going to look inside of the new room Sam and Steve walked back into the previous room which they had just come from. Sam was following Steve, wondering what exactly Steve was doing until the man leaned down, picking up the book which he had thrown to the ground not five minutes ago. And upon opening the book the two men saw that the inside had been carved out, and that inside of the book rested some kind of remote, which had upon being thrown to the ground opened up the door in the next room. 

"This is starting to become increasingly more so like a James Bond film." Steve looked to Sam with a confused expression on his face upon hearing the movie reference which had gone over his head.   
"Aww, come on. James Bond? Have you at least watched Star Wars? Indiana Jones?" Upon seeing the head shake which told Sam that Steve had never seen any of the movies Sam felt as if he was going to have a heart attack. "Alright, next mission after this entire shit storm is over will be getting you caught up on some of the best movie series'." A nod was all that Sam received before the two of them headed back into the bedroom to begin searching the new room which had just appeared, hoping that it would lead to more answers than questions. 

"Holy Shit." Steve immediately looked over to the sight of Sam losing whatever food had been in his stomach on the carpet in Pierce's bedroom. What could have possibly? Then upon looking at the file which Sam had opened nearly caused Steve to lose his lunch as well. The very first page of the file revealed some of the horror which Steve had thought was even beyond HYDRA. The horror which Steve had originally felt upon realizing who exactly was more likely than not responsible for this. Pierce. 

"We're going to see Pierce. Right. Now. We are going straight to the source to find out about this." Sam who was still trying to make sure that he wasn't going to lose whatever else still remained in his stomach merely nodded in response. Sam didn't even attempt to go against Steve because he knewwhat a waste of time it would be. But he did send a text in hopes of resolving the shit storm this was going to end up being.   
The two men placed the rest of the files and everything else that they had found in the room before heading out to the car and towards were Pierce was being held. Steve was overcome with the fury at what exactly was in these files, and he would beat Pierce to within an inch of his life if that was what it took to get Pierce to reveal everything. 

Back at the Tower 

As soon as James had opened the door to the operating room he looked to see that there was no one lying on the operating table. Upon taking a closer look he realized that every person that had been operating on Will were each backed up against walls in different places in the operating room, he couldn't help but wonder where Will was. Then upon looking closer he saw him, backed up into the corner holding a scalpel in front of his body in way of defense. 

Every person in the operating room was remaining as still as possible so that they wouldn't possibly set off Will whose eyes were darting around the room until the stopped to rest on James. James had looked around the room to see the possible damage which might have been done and he wanted to breathe a sigh of relief upon realizing that nobody had been harmed in Will's struggle to free himself from the operating table.   
Blood. Blood was on the floor and upon gazing upon Will's shirtless form it was to blood which was dripping down from each bullet wound which had been stitched up, but Will had obviously in his struggle ripped open a few of the stitches. James counted five entrance wounds upon his lover's body who was holding the scalpel as if it was his lifeline, which if Will thought he was back at HYDRA it may well be. James hoped that he would be able to get Will to focus solely on him so that everyone else could get out of this room in case he needed to contain him. 

"Will." Eyes darted to meet his and in them he saw nothing but determination, along with a coolness that meant that if Will deemed this place a threat he would do any and everything to get out of this room. Keeping his own body tensed up in the possibility that Will chose to attack him without warning he let the other assassin see that he had no weapon in his hands. 

"Will, I need you to put the scalpel down so that these people can patch you up." A tightened grip on the scalpel helped in revealing what Will's answer was going to be. "Unknown area. Threat is unknown at this time. Mission is unknown." James couldn't help but curse HYDRA even more as he realized that this was going to be even more problematic. No one moved an inch as soon as Will's eyes began to scan the room analyzing each and every person standing in the operating room. James could tell that every single person was waiting with baited breath for the assassin to strike out at them, because each person was breathing as little and as shallowly as possible. 

"Medical. Mission accomplished. No threat to either Soldier or Wolf, injuries sustained in mission, stand down. HYDRA not present." Minutes which seemed like hours seemed to pass as each and every person in the room waited for the assassin in the corner to attack the Winter Soldier as he slowly approached his partner. There was an audible sigh as soon as Will handed over the scalpel which had left indents in the assassin's palm because he had been holding the instrument so tightly. "White walls. White walls. White walls." The repetition of these words had James realizing just how close he was to striking out and attacking these people in the operating room. The woman in charge of Will's operation needed to get her team out before he was unable to convince Will that they were not back with HYDRA. The white walls which were surrounding his partner were not helping while he was trying to convince the younger assassin of the validity of his statement. He needed to get the doctor's team along with her out before Will decided to strike out in any way possible, because then he would likely try to escape from what he thought to be HYDRA. And even if James did not know the goal of the Avengers who had saved both him and Will they would be in the end much better than the goal of HYDRA. 

"Не волнуйся, я буду исправлять тебя." James said these words before looking to the woman who had been in charge of the entire operation. 

"Is he in stable condition?" The question was pointed towards Helen Cho who was standing in the corner of the room looking on at the scene which James and Will had created in the operating room. The woman nodded in response to the question before answering and telling them that she had been stitching him up when the younger assassin had bolted straight up and had ripped every single one of the lines from the machine which had been the cause of the chaos. A nod is all that she got in way of response as the Soldier grabbed an extra suture kit and began redoing the stitches which had been ripped out. Will at this point had seemed to be gaining more of an awareness as to what was going on around him, but he was purposefully avoiding everyone's gaze other than James'. This avoidance was almost like that of a dog that was waiting to be kicked for punishment and it made James' gaze harden. 

"Everyone out." 

"The patient needs little to no movement as long as possible, because although the patient is miraculously alive there is still a risk that ripping out the stitches could result in death due to blood loss. There are also two broken ribs due to the earlier fight and a concussion as well. Bedrest and constant observation of the patient is advised because of how many times he was shot and because of the reaction from earlier."

James nodded after listening to everything that Helen Cho had told him, choosing to ignore the looks which he was receiving from the people who were leaving the operating room. He knew that it was incredible that Will was alive, and he knew that it was even more confusing as to how he had woken up under the anesthesia, but that didn't concern them. After each and every person had left the room he looked down to Will only to smile in response. Of course, the bloody idiot was asleep, all of the action from just now must have worn him out. The fact that the younger assassin was asleep would have worried James if Will had not had much worse injuries than this in the past and had recovered from them. To be honest James would hope for Will to sleep for as long as possible, because more than likely upon waking up again he would find it harder to sleep with all of the unknown variables which surrounded them. 

Being extremely careful as to how he was moving Will, James picked the other man up and placed him back up on the operating table while trying his best not to jostle him more than necessary. Placing a gentle kiss on the other man's lips he then left the operating room to figure out exactly what they were going to do now that the battle was over. And what exactly the plan would be regarding Will and himself because of the injuries which his partner had sustained. Because there would be no way in hell if at all remotely possible that Will would be moving until his injuries had healed if he had anything to say about it. 

But upon exiting the room he was met with the sight of Natasha on the phone obviously annoyed or angry at something. And the obvious annoyance and concern in the undertones of her voice made this obvious. 

"That idiot did what?! Goddammit Steve." The second part was said as she hung up the phone and then looked to the rest of the people in the room and upon quickly motioning to Clint she told him to remain here in case any extra HYDRA agents should appear. Clint obviously not wanting to leave his brother nodded and agreed without any argument to the plan which his partner had suggested. 

"What exactly did Capsicle do?" Upon hearing the question that came from the billionaire's mouth Natasha seemed to get even angrier which Tony realized just a little too late. "Steve like a fucking idiot went after Pierce with some files that must have some monumental information in them that both Sam and him found at Pierce's house." James would never admit to his dying day that he used the emotionless mask which had helped in dealing with HYDRA to not react to what had been said. There was no telling what was in those files, anything of major importance would probably be located at Pierce's residence. There would be no point in trying to think of what it could possibly be that the Captain had found because Pierce would have erased it from both Will and his own memory. A sudden spark ran through James' mind as if it had been brought upon by the mere thought of these files. Everything else seemed to leave his mind as sudden strings of thought and images ran through his own head. Iron Wolf and Winter Soldier. All of the information was making his head hurt until suddenly an enormous realization came to the very forefront of his brain. These files were THE files, everything on Will and himself, the training, the tests. Anything and everything related to the two of them. Why was he able to remember anything about these files though, he shouldn't be remembering things this quickly because of the last mind wipe.

James needed to ensure that those files did not reach anyone beyond the Avengers, and not even them if he could help it, but it was probably unavoidable seeing as the Captain and the other man were going for Pierce's throat right now. Pierce never trusted the internet over the things which could be written down, and James as loath as he was to admit this agreed with the man because things on the internet were easier to find. But there was no telling what was in those files, Pierce had always been writing things down. Everything about Will and himself, every murder, every command, and every single experiment which was making James' blood run cold as he thought more and more about those files. Then every single thought running through his head stopped dead in their tracks. 

Command words. 

If anyone got ahold of those files other than these people, there would be copies upon copies of being able to control the two of them. 

"Do not interrogate Pierce without me though Natasha." Clint's voice got the attention of everybody in the room because of how hard and cold it was. Even James had to admit that he was impressed by the lack of emotion in the archer's voice as he spoke to his partner. The man obviously wanted to kill Pierce in the most inventive way possible, but he would have to get in line behind Will and himself. "I won't question him about the files or anything related to them without you, but I may have to interrogate him for another reason. We need to wait until the man in that operating room is mobile and can be in the same room as Pierce before we interrogate him in regard to those files." The rest of the team took what the Widow had said before they all agreed upon what had been said. 

"Don't let anyone else get ahold of or see what's in any of those files. "As soon as James spoke up he realized that he had more than likely been at the back of their minds while they had been arguing about what the Captain had done in his anger. The Widow merely nodded, an action which the other two men in the room copied, all three obviously worried as to what had to be in the files to make the Soldier so on edge upon speaking of them. Natasha did not ask in regard to the files, James knew that this was because of the fact that she knew what it was like to have a file on herself in some room that was not in her possession. James mentally stored how the three teammates interacted with each other before the Black Widow left the room after all of the talk regarding the files and how stupid Steve had acted. The Soldier was taking in everything as he stood in front of the doors to the operating room, analyzing everything with a cool look. The assassin was taking in everything from how many weapons each person had along with what would be the best way in taking down each person remaining in the room if need be. Going after Tony would be the best option for distracting Clint, but it would be a while before Will would be able to be mobilized. There had been no mention as to where exactly they would be staying after his lover would be declared out of danger, but he would die before going back into another prison, so would Will. 

Will. Will had been injured much worse in the past than he had been today, but his heart had stopped nonetheless upon seeing all of the blood coming from his own lover's body. Five bullets. Five bullets which had traveled through his body, one inches away from hitting the man's femoral artery, another which had been so close to hitting the man's liver. James didn't know what he would have done without Will who had been with him for years, the man who was his other half. It was with this thought in his mind that he turned around and walked back into the operating room to remain by his Wolf's side. Hearing distantly in the background of the waiting room Tony telling Clint that they should move Pierce to a more secure location than wherever Fury had placed him. Not caring enough to focus on the conversation James looked down into the sleeping face of William Brandt beyond thankful that he was finally getting some rest after what HYDRA had put them through the last few days. It was with this thought that James grabbed the other man's hand intertwining their fingers as he spread his awareness out so that he would be able to protect Will from any and everything that could possibly come at them right now. 

Hidden Facility 

As Steve was walking towards where Pierce was being held with both Maria Hill and Sam Wilson trailing behind him, the anger which Steve felt was murderous. The contents of the files which Steve had seen had brought forth every single ounce of hatred which was in his body and was overwhelming his actions. Steve was ignoring the protests of Hill, not hearing them due to the rage which was continuing to overwhelm him. Steve upon reaching the door which Pierce was concealed behind he nearly pulled the thick metal door off its hinges as a result of his own rage. Upon finally being able to enter the room with Pierce he walked over to the man who was sat at a table that was mounted to the floor. Steve never slowed his stride down as he stomped angrily towards Pierce tossing the files which he had brought with him onto the metal table and in the next moment grabbed hold of Pierce. The sound of stitching being torn could be heard from the shirt which Pierce had been given to change into as Steve grabbed hold of it tightly with both hands. Shoving the man up against the wall he gave Pierce only a moment before he motioned towards the files which he had thrown down on the table. Hill and Sam were standing at the entrance of the room watching the scene that was going on with baited breath, both of them obviously hoping that Steve was not going to do anything irreversible. 

"What the fuck is this?" The anger, the rage which was clearly evident not just on Steve's face but in how he was obviously holding himself back from ripping Pierce a new one showed how close he was to letting all of his anger out. The anger in Steve seemed to climb even higher upon hearing what Pierce said to everyone in the room. "I was wondering who would find and read the files first. Honestly, I was hoping it would be Romanov what with her history in regard to the Red Room and the two assets of HYDRA. It would have been nice to see if that could have shaken the unshakeable Agent Romanov." Steve only grew angrier upon hearing Pierce referring to his childhood friend as if he was a tool to be used by another human being. The grip on the man's shirt tightened even more steadily so upon noticing that Pierce continued to remain as cool and as calm as he had been when he had entered the room. The concern from Sam and the nervous attitude coming from Maria Hill as they watched Steve continue to interact with Pierce did not affect him in the slightest. 

"What is this?"" Steve repeated his question unwavering in his grip on Alexander Pierce. The calm which the other man had maintained during this entire confrontation remained a constant which continued to enrage Steve the longer that it continued to go on. 

"Steve." Everyone in the room turned to the door to look where the voice had come from which revealed the person to be none other than Natasha Romanov standing just inside the room. Obviously displease as to how the current situation was being handled. "Natasha." The female assassin's face was as cold as ice as she looked to Pierce, not even sparing a glance for anyone else in the room. 

"Leave the room. Remain outside the door." The tone in her voice left no room for negotiation, so Steve unclenching his fists which had turned white from the lack of blood flow through them dropped Pierce onto the cold hard floor. Obviously delighting in the sound of the man's breath leaving his lungs as he slammed down upon the ground with a thud. While he was leaving Steve went to pick up the files which still remained upon the table but Natasha upon seeing Steve going for them told him to leave them. Natasha's gaze never wavered from the man sitting upon the ground in front of her as she spoke to Steve, obviously not trusting Pierce not to attack her from behind. Steve glared at the man as he left the room unwillingly while Natasha sat down in a chair waiting for Pierce to stand and do the same thing. Natasha had an emotionless mask in place as she waited for Pierce to take the seat which was right across from her on the opposite side of the table. When Pierce finally managed to take a seat obviously still feeling sore from how Steve had dropped him on the floor earlier Natasha was barely able to hide a smirk. Looking to Pierce with a look that would have made lesser men shrink in hope that the Black Widow would possibly spare them from her wrath. Pierce showed a look of surprised when Natasha never opened the folders which rested upon the table choosing to continue looking at the older man. 

"I will not waste my time in thinking that you will in any way tell us anything in regard to any of the events which have transpired over the last few days. I will not interrogate you without Clint because my partner wishes to be here as each and every one of us takes turn in tearing you apart." Pierce raised an eyebrow upon hearing what the Black Widow had said to him, obviously thinking that the feat of them tearing him apart in an interrogation was funny in some way. "I will not speak until my Soldier and Wolf are here. They are my property, they belong to me. Especially the Iron Wolf, more so than you can ever realize." Natasha's face never wavered from the mask which she had mastered decades before even Pierce.

"One could possibly be managed. The other, well… That may be just a little bit harder." 

"Oh?"   
"The Iron Wolf is currently at death's door. He's dying from the severe injuries which he sustained in the fight from earlier." Pierce scoffed upon hearing what Natasha had to say, along with noticing the fact that the assassin had refrained from using the words of possession in regard to Will Brandt. Smirking as he looked to the female assassin he could not help but feel pride in the fact that he knew a great many things which the Avengers and the mighty Nick Fury did not.

"HYDRA's Iron Wolf has survived much worse than whatever injuries he has possibly sustained in the fight from earlier. My men would have known not to attack that very Asset because he can be just as useful if not more so than the Soldier. He will be fine by the end of the day, late tomorrow at the latest. That weapon has a way of surprising even me, so I doubt that he would be useless enough to die so easily." Natasha was unreadable upon hearing Pierce speaking so flippantly about the two people which HYDRA had shaped and molded for decades, one of them since his own birth more than likely. 

The fact that the other man had given any type of information about the Iron Wolf surprised the female assassin though. The two assassins' during her time in the Red Room had been guarded like they were the cure to end cancer. There had been only a handful of times during which the two men had been left alone and they had been few and far between. 

"Last time I saw the Iron Wolf he was flat lining." Natasha wanted to see if she could get a rise from the unshakeable man as she stood and began to walk towards the door, leaving Pierce to think on this. "Find the journals which are in my home, and you will see why I am unconcerned in any way with the recovery of my Assets." Natasha upon hearing the information which had been given willingly from Pierce did not turn to look to the man who had helped destroyed SHIELD from the inside out. Upon closing the door and waiting to hear the sound of the door sealing tightly behind her she thought to herself about all that she had learned. 

Just from the short conversation which she had been able to have with Pierce she knew that both Will and James were nothing more than property to HYDRA. This had not been that much of a surprise because of how the people in the Red Room had acted with the rest of the members of the Red Room but this was more so. The fact that Pierce continuously referred to the two male assassin's as weapons and using words akin to ownership it made it blatantly obvious that getting them from HYDRA's control would be exceedingly difficult. The command words alone had been a factor which was going to make this difficult along with the obvious PTSD which would make an appearance, but this brought an entirely new perspective into the light. Pierce had been an influence upon Will since he was very young if not a baby, it was going to be very hard in getting the man's favorite pet out from underneath his grasp. But this would have to be a focus for later moment than the one that needed her undivided attention as of right now the Widow thought as she looked upon the form of Steve Rogers leaning up against the wall. Walking over to the man she pushed him up against the cold, gray wall getting the man's complete and undivided attention from the action, which had been the obvious goal. "Steven Grant Rogers, do not ever do something as stupid or as reckless as that again so long as you may live." Steve looked to her with a look that clearly showed that he would say anything to get the very files that Natasha had in her hands back in his possession. "Natasha you have not seen what is inside of those files! What is on those pages!" 

"It does not concern me in the slightest right now Steve! I need you to stay away from Pierce! If not for me then for your very own childhood friend." Natasha added the last bit in upon seeing the stubborn look upon the man's face which upon hearing her had wanted to do anything but what she had suggested. "I need you to stay away from Pierce and find every possible documentation that could possibly be hidden in that home of his. Bring it to the tower. Do not stop anywhere on the way. The files and documentation are important enough that your childhood friend told me that they cannot get into anyone else's hands." Natasha was obviously trying to avoid using any type of name in regard to James. Because telling Steve that his old childhood friend might not be the same as when he almost died seventy years ago was a subject which she was not willing to approach at the current moment in time. "I will join you after I make a call." 

"Natasha, if you had read that file." Natasha quickly turned to face the super soldier who had both Sam and Maria on either side of him as the two others listened to the conversation. Anger and frustration was easily discernable in every movement which she was making. The adrenaline high from the earlier battle was beginning to wear off making it increasingly harder for her to keep up appearances of how angry and pissed off she was currently."You could have threatened the safety to the two men that we have put so much work into both acquiring and trying to protect Steve! One nearly attacked Helen Cho and her team because he woke up while they were stitching him up. And the other seems ready to attack anyone other than Clint who goes near the Iron Wolf!" Steve had the decency to look ashamed upon hearing all of the trouble that he had caused because of his stunt with Pierce. "You might have lost us precious information by leaving Alexander Pierce's home unguarded. There might be a way to get rid of the conditioning which HYDRA has over both assassin's in the man's files and journals that we could have lost because of this little stunt." Every person in the hallway could tell how infuriated the Black Widow was at the actions of the super soldier who was just now seeming to realize how reckless he had acted in his desire for a vendetta against Pierce. 

"This is not just your old, childhood best friend Steve. This is also about Clint's twin brother that he has been searching for answers about since he possibly could. He thought that he was dead for almost his entire life Steve. He cannot lose this." Steve nodded as even more of how he could have fucked up their entire objective in saving the Soldier and the Iron Wolf began to sink into his brain. Just as Natasha was walking away so that she could make her phone call in peace she heard the voice of Sam Wilson trying to get her attention.

"Before Steve and I left the man's house we gathered every type of documentation, be it contained in a file or in a journal and we placed it in the car which Fury let us use. And whatever there was that we could not fit into the car we placed inside of the hidden room that we found in the home before coming here Natasha." A nod was all that Sam got as a response from Natasha as she tried to calm herself down while trying to decide what exactly she should do, and upon figuring this out she looked to the group. "We'll head over and get everything else in that room and then head back to the Tower, the Soldier made it very clear that nothing should get back in HYDRA's hands. When we reach the Tower we'll get Tony to head over there and scan for any extra rooms, he'll take another look." 

"By the way, did you two find any journals?" Sam nodded as the group walked towards where Natasha had parked the black Camaro which she had 'borrowed' from Tony's garage, obviously Steve knew where it had come from because he looked at her with a raised eyebrow which she returned with a shrug after which turning to look at Sam and Hill who had accompanied them outside. "We found hundreds of journals in that hidden room. These journals stretch as far back as the 1970's, and also in the late 50's and 60's." The journals were there then, Natasha thought to herself as she paused waiting for any additional information from the other three people, and upon receiving none she thought up a plan.

"I will meet you two back at Pierce's house, after which we can return back to the tower but Steve you need to know that the man that was your childhood friend is not the same man that he was." Upon receiving a nod from Steve, she thought back to what had happened with Will earlier. "Because of the fact that Will nearly attacked Helen and her team earlier you may want to stay away from Will until he is healed up better so that he is more aware of everything going on around him. You could risk everyone's safety." Steve took a few moments to let the gravity of the comment sink in, while he was obviously thinking everything through. "I just found out that Bucky is alive Nat." A sigh from Natasha was all that was heard before Sam decided to make an attempt towards convincing Steve to take it easy with the two new assassins' in the Tower. 

"She's just saying that you need to approach this with a healthy amount of caution man. The two of them undoubtedly have at least years, if not decades worth of PTSD." Steve chose not to respond to what either Sam or Natasha had told him. Rather he chose to begin walking towards the borrowed black SUV and upon reaching the car he opened the passenger's side and climbed in. The three people still outside rolled their eyes at the stubbornness of super soldiers before walking back each to their respective vehicles, and Maria walking back inside of the compound. Natasha made sure to make a call to Tony before she pulled out behind Sam and Steve, not just getting the man to be prepared to scan Pierce's home but to check up on both Will and James. The whole Tower was going to be chaotic when Steve was finally able to see the two assassins who were currently housed in the Tower. One which had been on edge the entire time he has been in the tower and the other which for the few minutes he had been awake in the Tower had defended himself with a scalpel. This was going to be fucking chaotic. 

Back at the Tower 

Outside the operating room James heard the voice of Stark talking animatedly to someone that was not his partner's twin. Cellphone then. 

"You seem pretty calm for a man whose own partner just nearly died." James upon hearing the statement internally cursed. He should not have been so focused upon Stark that he might miss anyone who might mean Will harm, now that he was not focused entirely upon Will he realized the ache around his ribcage, and the smell of dry blood on his clothing. Remembering the archer who was now in the room he looked to Clint awaiting anything else which he would have to say to him in regard to Will. Apparently, what he had said earlier had been all that he had planned to say for now because the archer continued on walking until he reached the other side of the operating table upon which his twin brother was laying on. Clint sat down quietly looking down to his brother who was laying so very quiet and still. Clint said nothing to James upon sitting down but he hears the archer mutter under his breath upon taking his seat that he was a Barton and that he would not die this easily. That he needed to walk it off. Upon hearing the words James laughed lightly, but Clint did not look away from his younger brother who was laying upon the table. Will could have passed off as being dead if it had not been for the slight rising of his chest which showed how he was still alive which each man watched with undivided attention. As Clint looked down to his younger twin brother James looked to the face of the man, taking in the details of the other's face and comparing it to his own partner. Both men were obviously identical to each other, they're faces looked nearly identical except for the fact that Will's eyes were just slightly greener than the archers were. The build was even similar, the shoulders were both the same width, the arms equally muscular, this was probably more on HYDRA's part than Will's. HYDRA had probably wanted Will to be able to mimic his twin brother at some point and had made it so that Will's build was near indistinguishable from that of his own brother's. James doubted that anyone who knew nothing about either twin would be able to tell one from the other. At least while each had their protective gear on concealing the different scars which each twin would have, unique to each twin. 

Looking back down to Will's face James focused on how peaceful Will seemed to be right now while he was sleeping, it was a gift for the man because neither of them rarely if ever slept peacefully. While he was thinking on this fact he heard the sound of the operating room door opening and the sound of Tony Stark walking into the room. "We should move hi to another floor so that he may be more comfortable once he is up and moving around with no concern for his health." James' eyes narrowed upon looking to the man who had just entered the room, awaiting for the conditions which would be given to them for as long as they remained in Tony Stark's Tower. 

"Is that what you were doing out there? Getting another room ready for two new members of the misfit club?" Clint said with a smirk looking to his boyfriend who merely shrugged in response to what had been said to him. "We could move him to a more comfortable bed though. As one who has been on an operating table I know how uncomfortable they can be to wake up on." Tony looked down to Will as he said this, clearly knowing how waking up on an operating table could be very terrifying as well what with all of the silver equipment and sharp instruments in the room. 

"Make sure that he doesn't wake up in a white room." The sound of James' voice caused Tony to jerk slightly and caused Clint to look sharply to the Soldier. Upon seeing the questioning look from Tony, he spoke up again, explaining as to why Will should not wake up surrounded by white. James explained that every medical room in HYDRA was constant white walls and sharp metal instruments. The two merely nodded in acknowledgment to what James had told them, while Tony made a note so that he did not make the bathroom in their bedroom in any way white, no white walls would be in that room. Clint looked to James and then to Will in understanding, clearly understanding how the white walls in medical put the archer and even Natasha who would never admit it even on death's door that white walls in a medical room made them nervous. Movement brought the three men's attention to the man lying on the operating table beneath them. Upon realizing that Will was about to wake up in an operating room laid out on cold metal slab all three men jumped to action moving Will into the waiting room. The placement was not ideal, but anything was better than having another attempt towards an attack with a scalpel again. Clint pulled Tony out of the room just as Will's eyes began to open, confusion easily evident in the man's eyes. Keeping his hand intertwined with Will's he backed up slightly just in case his partner should strike out with his fists in a panic. Looking over his shoulder he was glad that there were no windows in the doors which would lead out into the hall from earlier which Clint and himself had brought Will into medical. The fact that the waiting room was painted in a dark blue was luck in the fact that Will would not have to wake up surrounded by a reminder of HYDRA. The fact that Will was waking up so soon after he had not long ago fallen asleep made James nervous, he needed for Will to sleep so that he would have a chance at recovering quicker. He was not going to lie about the fact that when Will's eyes had opened that he had been very happy that Will had opened them again. 

"James? James? Where am I?" Panic was barely concealed in the eyes of his partner who was taking in his surroundings clearly trying to figure out where exactly he was. "Will, Will, it's alright, we're alright." A shake of his head as Will was obviously disagreeing with what James had just told him, knowing that he would never lie to him but that he didn't think that they were safe. 

"There was a man who looked like me. HYDRA. It's another one of their plans to teach another lesson which I don't want to learn." James placed a hand upon Will' forehead and was satisfied when there was no fever evident, so this was just the usual confusion each of them sometimes had after being injured seriously. "Will. Will. That man is your twin brother, we're in a Tower that HYDRA does not in any way own." Will breathed out a long breath, one which James recognized as one of relief which calmed him down. 

"Clint?" Smiling he ran his hand through Will's hair as the other man calmed down upon realizing that he was with James and that he was not with HYDRA. "Yeah, the twin that you were convinced for however many years was alive. Don't move too much by the way, you were shot five times and have a couple broken ribs." A smirk accompanied the comment which made Will laugh softly wincing as the laughter caused his ribs to become jostled by the vibrations. "I'm right a good bit of the time, don't you know this by now?" James' eyes narrowed upon hearing this, clearly against the very comment which had come out of his lover's mouth. 

"Lies. I can't remember many of our missions, but I remember one which you nearly messed up because you were messing with the target and having fun screwing around." The memory came immediately to Will's mind upon hearing it being mentioned to him by James. Will had been sixteen and had thought that he had known everything that could possibly happen on one mission and it had nearly cost both James and him his life. When there had been an unknown partner that had shot James through the shoulder and had shot him in the side resulting in two broken ribs Will had learned very quickly not to let himself believe himself to be all knowing on a mission ever again. The punishment which HYDRA had given him for that mess-up had not just been for him but had separated him from James who had been frozen along with Will after Will had had the lesson of no underestimating targets literally beat into his head by one of their handlers. The times that Will had been frozen had been few and far between, but they had been enough to leave another mark on his mind. 

"Is Clint outside?" Avoiding the subject, they had been talking of completely causing James to smirk he simply got a nod in way of response to his question. "Do we actually look that much alike or was that a figment of my imagination from all of the pain from earlier that created that image?" James shook his head in response to what had been said and then asked if he wanted to see his twin brother. "Do I have to see anyone other than him?" When he was told that there was no one else that he would have to see or that he would be forced to see then he agreed somewhat hesitantly, obviously afraid that his twin would somehow after having helped in saving him thought him not worth anymore of his time. James walked over to the door and talked to someone on the other side before talking to a person on the other side of the door. Looking to Will with a last look before he stepped outside the room leaving Clint and Will alone in the room together Will felt like he would rather be assassinating a man from atop a building than having to make this introduction. The last time that he saw the man who looked like him before this battle was when he had told the other man to survive or he would bring him back to life just so that he could kill him again. As the archer sat down in the uncomfortable looking chair beside him he looked to the man with an analyzing look as he took in his brother's features. They both looked the same, his hair was maybe slightly longer than his brother's but other than that there was nothing that different to note, even their own build was very similar. "You do the same thing that I do." Will blinked quickly realizing that he had been staring at the other man for however long without even saying a word to the man. Confusion as to what exactly they both did he continued to look to his brother awaiting the other man to reveal exactly as to what similarities had. "You tilt your head when you're trying to figure something out. I do the same exact thing. Nat gets on to me about it all the time, she likes to make fun of it sometimes." Will was still trying to figure out exactly what to say, he was unsure as to whether he was going to be punished for saying something wrong or by saying something incorrect. In talking with James earlier he knew that he would say nothing which he would be punished for, James would not have left him with someone who would punish him for speaking though would he? 

"James. He makes fun of me for it too." Clint smiled broadly upon hearing his twin choose to finally talk to him, but he knew that Clint was curious as to why he was so hesitant to speak. "Natasha gets onto me about it, but Tony thinks that it's endearing. You don't have to worry about saying something wrong by the way, you're not going to be punished for anything that you say. You can curse anyone of us out and we still wouldn't do anything about it. Except maybe laugh about it." Will's eyes widened upon hearing what his twin was saying to him, it was almost as if he had read his own mind. It was honestly a little weird as to how the man had figured out something that he had wanted to tell the other but did not want to possibly be punished for speaking incorrectly. When Will still did not say anything in response to what had been said Clint asked him if he could check the wounds which had been stitched up by James earlier. Merely nodding in response rather than saying anything he watched as his brother, which was weird in itself having a brother checked all of the stitching and the bandages of his wounds. "Everything seems to be alright apart from the fact that you were shot five times of course and that you have broken ribs, but you're doing pretty good for someone that I thought was going to die not too long ago." Both brothers smirked as Clint spoke again, similar smirks upon identical faces before the two of them went into silence once more, Clint obviously waiting for his brother to say something. 

"Am I older or younger?" The smirk which spread across the other man's face was all that Will needed to see to let him know the answer which caused him to have a slight pout upon his own face. Learning that he was a twin was incredible, learning that he was the younger brother was going to be simply unbearable. "Where is Pierce?" Clint straightened up and Will tensed up as if he was preparing himself to be hit or even worse frozen, he still remembered the cold bite of that chamber. "Um, I don't exactly know. Natasha knows where he is, but I didn't want to see him until you had woken up." Will's gaze hardened upon realizing that Alexander Pierce was still alive and possibly well but at least he was in the hands of a former member of the Red Room. 

"You should have killed him while you had the chance. He knows a million different ways to control both James and me." Clint's gaze hardened. "I figured. But Fury had wanted to take the man in alive, and I wanted him alive so that we could figure out how to get rid of the conditioning which HYDRA placed on you." Will grew nervous upon hearing the talk about the conditioning which HYDRA placed upon both James and himself. He remembered some of the things which HYDRA had put him through when he was very young to make him unwillingly obedient, he remembered killing men when some children were learning how to read and write. Killing came as naturally to him as breathing, which was what HYDRA had wanted when they had formed him into the perfect killing machine, well almost. As he grew older he would verbally rebel to the point that his handler would threaten to freeze James and himself along with him. 

"So I have a very important question. This will actually tell me if we are just lookalikes or if we are twins." Clint's face was completely serious and lacked any note of its joking matter from earlier which caused some concern to come into Will's head. What if he was unable to answer this question, what if he did not know the answer? 

"Do you like coffee and pizza?" Will waited for the other man to say that he was joking but the archer looked completely serious after he had finished asking the question of his twin brother awaiting an answer. "I believe that the only place for decaf coffee is in the trash, coffee is the elixir of life, and I've never had pizza." Clint's happiness upon hearing his brother's reply was evident by the enormous grin upon his face, but then upon hearing that his brother had never had pizza he looked physically affronted. "How have you never had pizza?" Will cocked an eyebrow at him in response. "I've been for the most part kept inside of a hidden facility for all of my life. The only reason that they allowed me coffee was because of the fact that they realized that even with training that I was one of the worse morning people that they had ever seen. Because once I accidentally broke two of a man's ribs because of this fact." Clint looked at him with a weird look. "Accidentally? Or accidentally?" The smirk which came across Will's face was all the answer that Clint needed for an affirmation that this man was truly his brother. 

 

"Once you get healed up we can get you addicted to pizza like me. We'll start you on something easy like cheese then takes things more extreme." The two men grinned at each other each one of them taking in the fact that they were looking at an identical mirror of their own selves. "You use a bow right?" The responding grin was all the answer that Will needed to tell him that he was correct in his inquiry for his twin brother. "Yeah. It drives Tony mad that I use and I quote such an archaic weapon. He tried to convince me when we first started teaming up to change weapons but realized that I was just as stubborn as him. I am the amazing Hawkeye though." The curious look which he received from his younger brother made him laugh slightly but it was cut off by the sound of bodies hitting each other. Will tried sitting up immediately but Clint pushed him back down telling him not to move. "We don't want you opening up your wounds again." Will did not like the sound of this command, despising the feeling of being vulnerable in a hospital bed. "At least give me a gun to defend myself or something." The fact that he was handed a gun surprised Will to no end but the scene that surprised him even more was the fact that both Tony and James came falling through the door leaving the door open enough to reveal a slightly charred hallway. 

Will looked to his brother who had a resigned look that turned into one of adoration while Will was still being left in the dark as to what exactly had gone on, but he was soon enlightened. "Were you trying to invent something in the hallway because you were bored?" The fact that Tony did not look to Clint or Will immediately instantly revealed the truth. "I was working on something that would enhance the spider bites on Natasha's gauntlets, but I think that maybe I should wait until I'm not as distracted by events going on." The three looks that he received clearly showed that they thought that he should do exactly that. Tony upon looking to the scene of Clint and Will near each other grinned broadly upon seeing the identical twins. "You know I thought that there would be slight very obvious differences but you two could pass off for each other. I mean even the muscle dimension is almost exactly alike." Tony was clearly analyzing each man for the similarities and the differences which would set each man apart from the other, which was obviously making Will somewhat nervous as the man seemed to take him apart piece by piece. "Tony, remember we talked about this. When you look at someone you need to make sure that you are seeing the person as well." Tony obviously had not realized what he had been doing because upon looking to Will and seeing the expression upon his face he immediately apologized. "Sorry for that, I tend to sometimes forget that when I'm analyzing a person that they are actually a person." Will shrugged upon hearing the billionaire's explanation, clearly, he was unsure as to how he was supposed to act around the billionaire. 

The sound of the doors opening to reveal three more people caused Will's nerves to shoot through the roof as he tightened his grip upon the gun that he just now realized that he still had in his possession. James placed himself closer to his partner and Will upon looking up to see the face of the man who was standing before him saw only red. Blonde hair and blue eyes. The gun rang out and the sound of a bullet hitting plaster rang out through the room as everyone in the room moved to deal with the fact that Will had just tried to shoot Steve with the gun in his hand. James moved to take the gun away from Will who had a vicelike grip upon the weapon as he stared in the direction of the super soldier that he had faced from earlier along with Clint who was trying to get the assassin to calm down. Everyone else in the room was getting Steve out of the room before Will managed to get another shot at him. And when they had finally managed to get the gun away from Will with just Natasha, Will, Clint and James left in the room she looked to all of the other assassins before looking to Will. 

"What the heck!" Will did not even have the decency to look ashamed at having almost shot Captain America not looking away from the doors which the man had come in earlier.


	3. Impulse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is only around five thousand words but there will be a longer chapter during the week, which will be posted. I just figured that you guys have had to wait almost two months. And I also wanted to post a chapter in honor of the Fourth of July and in honor of Captain America's birthday. So I promise that there will be another new chapter during the Fourth of July week, I just wanted to post on the Fourth of July.

As soon as Sam, Tony, and Steve had left the room Will could tell how much James had calmed down upon having the other super soldier no in the room. The fact that the man was his friend before the war ended and that he seemed focused on getting him to remember this fact made James and even Will to an extent nervous. Will had not intentionally meant to shoot at the man but having only gotten a passing glance at the man who was Captain America he had not realized that the fact that the man who was Steve Rogers would have triggered something. Will had not even looked at the man's face but rather his eyes when he entered the room, he had just shot because of the fact that he saw the blond hair, blue eyes and similar height to that of Alexander Pierce. When Pierce had been younger he had been of similar height to the Captain and so that must have triggered the reaction which the appearance of the other man had caused. 

"Well that escalated quickly." A snort was heard from Clint upon hearing the sentence which came from the Widow. Will felt the comforting presence of James to the right of him along with his own brothers to the left. The fact that Will felt comfortable with the archer this close to him spoke volumes which James had obviously deduced if the slight looks the archer received was anything to go by. Will had not let anyone but James in an area where he would be unable to stab or shoot someone with ease since the punishment he had received as a child for being too focused on one aspect of his surroundings. The instructor which had stabbed him through the shoulder had said that even though he was a sniper more often than not, that this did not mean that someone could not come up right behind him and shoot him in the back of the head. That had been a lesson that he had learned very early on at seven years old. 

"In Will's defense Steve should not have barged in like he did. Have you seen pictures of Pierce when he was younger? If you looked quickly at Steve, you could mistake him for Pierce." Natasha nodded an affirmative for what Clint had just said. Honestly it was not even the slightest bit of a surprise that Will had chosen to fire the gun at Steve. The attitude of Will as soon as Natasha had started talking was that he went straight from being completely on edge to even more on edge as soon as he noticed that the Black Widow was in the room. The female assassin seemed to notice how on edge that she was making Will because she made an effort to leave herself open for any attack from either Will or James. Clint especially seemed to notice the fact that she was leaving herself open to attacks from the two-other male assassin's in the room. 

"The reason that Steve is so on edge is because of what was found at Pierce's home. There were hundreds of journals and other various written documentation." And after a long pause she added that there had also been the discovery of the red book which was used to control both the Iron Wolf and the Winter Soldier. "The fact that you found all of the documentation at that man's home is not a surprise, he was always writing down things about us. Mainly Will." The younger of the two assassins never said anything through the entire exchange. "When can we get out of this area? The smells are making me want to climb the walls?" The tone which Will spoke with clearly displayed how true these words are because of how the assassin was every so often looking towards the exits in medical. "The floor which Tony has been preparing for the two of you should be finished by the end of the day." The two men visibly perked up when they heard about the room which Tony had started preparing for them. 

"Someone needs to take a look at your injuries before you are allowed out of medical. Can't allow you leaving medical with a potential internal injury." Will tried his best to remain as still and as emotionless as possible upon hearing the words which Natasha said to him. The fact that he was healing faster than an ordinary human being should could possibly result in the research and the investigation as to why he could possibly be healing faster. "We have already gotten him checked over by Helen when they got finished with the operation." Clint seemed to have sensed the nervous energy and the panic which his twin was feeling. Because even though Will was in no way expressing exactly how freaked out the man was able to feel exactly how worried and terrified he was at having someone other than James examining him for injuries. 

"Shouldn't that be enough? I mean can't we just use an x-ray machine or get Jarvis to scan him for any internal bleeding and that would be enough Nat? I detest medical and since Will is my brother I know for a fact that he will detest medical." Natasha looked to Clint with a look that was practically an eye roll, but she motioned for Clint to follow her outside of the room and he reluctantly followed her. James and Will remained inside the room as the other two walked outside to discuss whatever it was that Natasha deemed information that should not be said in front of the two of them. 

"I need to get out of this room. All of this medical equipment is driving me crazy James." The lack of a response from the Winter Soldier made it obvious as to how much it was affecting the other man as well. Neither of them did very well in regard to being surrounded by medical equipment. Given their backgrounds it wasn't unfounded in the slightest as to why neither assassin could stand to be around any type of medical equipment. "What is a Jarvis?" The tone in Will's voice made it very abundantly clear that he thought that Jarvis was some type of machine which would be used for medical examinations. The way in which his shoulders were bunched up revealed that any attempt to try and get the Iron Wolf in a machine to examine the man would be a mortal mistake. The way in which James had also responded by putting himself even closer to his lover made it very obvious as well that if anyone was stupid enough to try that it would be the last and worst mistake which they ever made. 

"Excuse me sirs." The sound of the AI overhead caused Will to actually flinch slightly upon hearing the sound of the British voice. James had grabbed the knife which was on his hip upon hearing the sound of the AI as well. Clint swallowed deeply, this was not going very well. "What is that voice? Is there someone who is keeping an eye on each and every movement which we make in this tower?" The anxious nature which had somewhat settled had come back in full force as soon as Will realized that there was possibly a man who was watching every single movement which both James and he were making. "No sir. I am the AI of the Avengers Tower previously known as Stark Tower." The tense looks on Will's face along with James' own behavior was putting every single person in the room on edge as they waited for something to happen. The fact that neither of the assassins had reacted in any way yet was both disconcerting and even unnerving. Clint could tell that Nat was concerned as to the lack of reaction from either one of the two men. Then the last thing which either Natasha or Clint expected to occur happened right in front of their eyes. Honestly Natasha would not have believed it if she had not seen it with her own eyes, Clint though had somewhat wondered if Will would have the exact same reaction that he himself had originally had. 

A broad smile appeared on both Will and James' faces upon hearing that the source of the voice was an AI. The confused look on Nat's face made Clint laugh while both Will and James became more enraptured with the AI by the minute. "Jarvis? Are you a self-functioning AI or is there a constant supervision over your own function? Also, what is the extent of your own reach by the way? Neither James or myself has met such an impressive work of science and ingenuity, because HYDRA was backwards. They refused to attempt towards even creating any type of artificial intelligence in the offhand which it would obtain a mind of its own and help in an escape on our own part." The fact that the AI nearly sounded as if it was gushing as it gave each and every answer in response to what Will had asked of him showed that the AI was more than a little partial to both Will and James who were treating Jarvis as if he was the greatest thing ever created on Earth. When the look of confusion on Natasha's face still had not disappeared even after the conversation between both assassins and Jarvis had come to a temporary halt, all three assassins looked to her with three identical looks of confusion. 

"What's with the look Nat?" Natasha raised a single eyebrow, as if the very question insulted her. When she realized that none of the supposed master assassins was going to make the connection. Between her raised eyebrow and the confused look which had been displayed across her face earlier she thought that at least one out of the three would figure it out. "Why exactly are you so comfortable around Jarvis? I'm not saying that you're not amazing Jarvis but there is the fact that one of these two men nearly shot Steve Rogers otherwise known as being Captain America earlier." 

"No offense taken Ms. Romanov." The look on both Will and James' faces made Natasha feel as if she was missing out on something. Will finally seemed to realize that the lack of reaction from either James or himself had probably been weird as hell. "In Hydra there were no types of artificial intelligence. Well except for the AI of Zola which had been in installed into that stupid computer at the old army camp. The fact that James and myself also love anything science fiction is also an enormous factor as well." 

"Hydra never had the intelligence to create something as impressive as Jarvis. Any type of supposed artificial intelligence would have to be constantly overseen by another handler, which would therefore discount the fact that the devices were supposed to be artificial intelligence. There is no way that Jarvis is in any way affiliated with Hydra because of this. Besides, Stark is not a butcher like Hydra. There is no way they could have created this." Natasha narrowly kept herself from groaning aloud. Not one, not two, but three men were infatuated with Jarvis almost as much as Stark. Jarvis had almost been a deal breaker when she herself had moved into the tower because of the possibility of the constant surveillance. The fact that these three men including her own partner were infatuated with the AI was shocking. Even more so the fact that Will and James had both seemed to go back into their own attitude of awaiting to be punished for speaking so openly to the AI and punished for the fact that they had spoken so openly about their love for Jarvis. When Natasha motioned for Clint to follow her the archer did so with a strong reluctance, one which was soothed by the fact that upon asking his twin brother if he was going to stay the man gave him a raised eyebrow. 

"Where else am I going to go? Back out into the open where Hydra is more than likely waiting for both James and myself to leave Avengers Tower? More than likely they know we are here, there would be no good purpose in leaving this tower." As soon as Will had said the comment though his entire body tensed up much like before after he had finished talking about how advanced and incredible Jarvis was. The fact that both himself and James always seemed to be awaiting some unknown punishment made Clint's blood boil. The fact that Clint knew a similar reaction because of how he had been even after Carson's Circus, awaiting punishment from every corner from the very minute human interactions he would have. 

Clint could tell how nervous the medical room was making his twin, it was even having an effect on him and he wasn't even being kept in the room. As Will moved, the man winced, surprising each person in the room, everyone except for James. "Look, stop being a masochist like us assassin types tend to be and accept the amazing thing which is morphine. Usually I would not advise this because of how it messes with your senses. The fact is though that you have your boyfriend." The look from both Will and James caused Natasha to snort in response, the fact that the two men had thought she had not noticed that the close nature of their relationship was just that of partners was insulting. "The fact is you have a boyfriend who would die to protect you, and a brother, who after he gets the double check from Tony." The suggestive smile which Natasha sent Clint's way brought a smile to both of the other assassin's in the room. Will along with James quickly rid themselves of their grins because they did not know how exactly they would be punished or even lectured for laughing at the other man's expense. 

"Whatever. Just this once so that you can rest easy." Will said this as he looked to James who smirked in response to the statement which had been directed his way. Behind that very smirk though Will could see the nervous tick which was invisible to everyone in the room except for Will. "There was also an anomaly in your blood which we need to run, just to ensure that nothing further is wrong with you." The statement which came from Natasha caused both Will and James to tense up in response, the fact that the group had checked his blood made him nervous. Would they use his blood against him like Hydra had, or would they keep it a secret? "Who looked at my blood?" 

"The woman who operated on you checked your blood after the operation to ensure that there had been no further tampering with your body. There was an element she said that made it unusual to say the least. We just want to double check the blood." Will's eyes narrowed upon hearing what the Black Widow had to say. The fact that this doctor had no idea as to what was going on with his blood made it so that Will was nervous to allow the woman to double check his blood. "If she has no idea as to what exactly is different about my blood then who exactly will be checking my blood fro anomalies? This doctor can't exactly check my blood if she has no idea as to what was different about his blood. Personally, Will would prefer that as few people as possible would be able to have a view as to the makeup of his blood. 

"The two people who will be looking at your blood will be Tony, the man that you met earlier, and a Dr. Bruce Banner who will be arriving shortly. He was in India yet again caring for the less fortunate and what not." The look which Natasha sent Clint would have killed a normal person, but Clint was slightly more resistant to the looks which his partner would send him more often than not. "Clint and myself are going to go and tell Tony as to what exactly is going on because more than likely he has left both Sam and Steve in medical by themselves to take the stress of the situation on by themselves. Your boyfriend has more than likely retreated to the lab so that he can involve himself in whatever new project he has invested himself in. "Whatever you do though, unless someone other than one of the Avengers comes in to get blood, do not allow anyone to draw blood." Will merely nodded, not knowing what to do, because if he refused he was afraid that he would be punished, or even worse that James would be punished in his place. The man who said that he was his brother had not done anything so far as to cause him any mistrust, but HYDRA had done many things like this. They had done things which when Will had thought himself to be in the clear. Will had then been tricked by the false sense of security which HYDRA would lull him into as a child, before he had learned not to trust anything they had to say. 

Before we go you should try and eat this, as unappealing as it may appear to be. Clint returned from the corner of the room with a tray of what appeared to be food. Or at least that's what both James and Will thought to be food. James merely stared at his food, while Will took the opportunity to use the metal fork to poke and prod each and every item on the tray. After having not even taken a bite of any of the food Will and James looked to the confused, on Clint's part and concerned face from Natasha after neither of them had taken a single bite of any food from the tray. 

"What kind of food is on this tray? I think that whatever kind of food that it is that I'm not allowed to eat it. Because whatever is on this tray." Will took a moment to pause and then prodded the gelatin on the tray once again with his fork before looking to the two people once again. "Whatever is on this tray could not possibly keep my body going as well as the supplements which were given to us by HYDRA." Both Clint and Natasha's eyes slightly widened upon hearing what had been said by the younger of the two twins. The fact that HYDRA had been controlling exactly what had been going into the Iron Wolf and the Winter Soldier's body had not been a surprise, but the fact that even the basic food such as oatmeal and even orange juice being foreign to Will and obviously even to James was extremely discouraging. 

"Will, I'm going to ask you a question and feel free to refuse to answer me. When did HYDRA pick you up?" Will's calm demeanor immediately changed. The calm demeanor which had been there, while the youngest assassin had been letting down his guard slightly. The mask which had been let down slightly was put back up immediately in regard to both Will and James. "Why exactly do you need to know how long that I have been with HYDRA?" James placed himself slightly closer to Will who had gotten even tenser upon asking Natasha and Clint his question. "We need to know, because of the fact that you seem to be unfamiliar with the food which is on the tray in front of you." Will's eyes narrowed upon hearing the statement from Natasha. The fact that these two were so concerned with his intake of supplements to keep his body up and running was confusing. Was there not a reason as to why he could not continue with the method in which they had been keeping his body up and running. Sure, what he had been given by HYDRA had not been the best tasting or even the most pleasing when it would hit his taste buds, but it did the job. Will then began to feel uneasy as he realized that his own actions when he was complaining about the food could be seen as being ungrateful. Discretely he began rechecking for where each and every possible exit in the room was located, even though he knew that his memory had not been failing him in the slightest. 

Will began to notice how the Black Widow was becoming uneasy because of the fact that he was not answering right away. The youngest assassin knew that he was avoiding the question, and not even to the best of his ability, but what could he say. The injuries which were healing, and the pain from the gunshot wounds and the broken bones was making it so that any avoidance of inquiry was harder for him. James seemed to realize Will's predicament in regard to the line of inquiry which was being directed at him by the female assassin in the room. Trying to take the line of inquiry away from Will James decided to speak up, gaining the attention of Natasha. But not Clint who was nonverbally attempting to reassure his twin, and to James' great surprise it was somehow working. James noticed as the tension which had been in Will's shoulders and entire back began to slightly decrease. "Why exactly do you need to know the eating habits of the two of us?" Natasha's entire attention was now on James, who had been facing away from her as he took in the scene of Will allowing Clint to sit down next to him on his hospital bed. Surprising James' immensely because of the fact that Will was never comfortable in allowing anyone within his general vicinity without knowing their intentions. The fact that Will already seemed to somewhat trust Hawkeye spoke volumes as to the connection which Will must feel in regard to his twin brother. 

"The reason that we need to know about the eating habits of Will is because if we give him a ton of food after he has had little to nothing, he would more than likely throw it up. The fact being that throwing all of that food back up would be not that helpful in regard to his recovery. The fact that it would be worse for him overall." James knew that it had probably been because of these factors but he had been wanting to double check as to the Black Widow's intentions. Will may be comfortable around Clint, but the fact that he had shown no such inclination towards the female assassin made him on edge around the red-haired woman. Along with the fact that she was famous for saying one thing and then doing another thing completely. James was just about to speak up when Will opened his mouth. "Repeat the question." Natasha, James knew was more likely than not getting extremely tired of these questions. Will though was looking to Natasha waiting for her to repeat the question once again. 

"When was the last time that you had solid food, or any food at all?" Will seemed to zone out as he contemplates the question which had been asked. Will honestly had no idea as to when he had eaten anything other than HYDRA supplements and protein shakes which had been given to him. James was the exact same way, the only thing other than these supplements and protein shakes he was allowed to consume was coffee. The entirety of HYDRA had soon realized upon having to wake up Will on numerous occasions that it was better done with a cup of coffee in hand. Even Alexander Pierce had allowed the younger assassin to consume coffee on the requirement that there was to be no type of sugar or any type of cream involved in the consumption of the beverage. The reason as to why the consumption of the beverage was allowed was because of the fact that Will had very nearly taken off the entire arm of an agent during his teen years when the man had tried to wake him up for a mission. 

"Both myself and James have been on HYDRA supplements and nutrition shakes since I reached adulthood. HYDRA decided that upon reaching as far as I was going to grow, that it was not as necessary for my consumption of such luxuries as food. It was more essential for me to have as much time for training as possible." The expressions from both Natasha and Clint made Will very fearful that he was going to be punished. The fact that his consumption of nutrition shakes had been out of his control was not in his train of thought, HYDRA had punished him multiple times for things which had been out of his control. "Clint, follow me. We are going to get you maybe a piece of toast to see if that would be bland enough for you to start both of your stomachs on. Remember that if anyone other than the Avengers come in to try and take your blood to not let them. The fact that there was an anomaly in your blood is intriguing." Upon hearing the word intriguing Natasha seemed to realize exactly what she had said to the two of them. 

"Not intriguing in the fact that we're going to experiment. It's just interesting is all, no one outside of the Avengers and Helen Cho will ever know that there is anything special about your blood." Will nodded but James was able to tell that it was clearly affecting his overall state of mind. The fact that the two of them were surrounded by all of these people who seemed to have nothing ill in mind for them was disconcerting to say the least. "JARVIS will keep an eye on you guys, and if you have any questions just ask him. In a little bit we'll move you to Clint's floor." Upon finishing Natasha headed towards the door to exit the room, literally dragging Clint behind her as they made their way towards the exit. 

As soon as the two of them had left James sat down on the bed so that he could get closer to his lover. Placing a soft kiss on Will's head to get the other man's attention Will leaned into the embrace, relishing in the fact that there was someone else who was going through the crazy events. "How do I tell them that I can't even feel the morphine which is supposed to be taking away the pain from all of my injuries?" James ran his fingers through Will's hair before kissing Will, taking the privacy as a chance to explore the mouth which he knew so well. "We'll figure out everything as we go. Just know that I will be there for you every step of the way." This time it was Will who kissed James, taking comfort in the fact that his lover had and would still be there for him every step of the way. 

Out in the Hall

"The two of them are nervous Clint, I know that you can see it." Clint said nothing for a moment as the two of them began to head down towards his boyfriend's lab. "Well I mean why wouldn't the two of them be nervous? The fact that the people that are helping them used to be affiliated with SHIELD would make anyone nervous. More so two people who had been controlled by HYDRA all of their lives." Natasha nodded to herself as she took in what Clint had said to her, the fact that both of them knew betrayal was not a well-kept secret. "We'll just make sure to do our best in not giving them any reason not to trust us." Clint nodded, then flinched in surprise as Natasha placed an arm around his shoulder. "I haven't had a chance to tell you this, but I'm really happy that you finally found out about your twin brother Clint. I bet that it feels really good to know that everyone who told you he was dead was wrong." Clint said nothing in response to what Natasha said to him but did smile broadly upon hearing her comment. The two of them riding the elevator down in a comfortable silence.


	4. A Tool For Hydra

Fury and Hill looked into the room which Pierce was seated in, both of his hands handcuffed to the table in front of him. The both of them did not in any way believe that he would be unable to get himself out of the handcuffs, in fact they had rather hoped that the man would have, then it would have given them an excuse to interrogate the man further about it. The man had remained still and silent though after talking to Natasha about how unconcerned he actually was about the survival of the Iron Wolf, a person whom he had spent years, decades even hardening into the perfect weapon. 

Fury looked to Hill before he chose to speak up, undoubtedly thinking through what he was going to say before voicing his concerns aloud. “The fact that Pierce is unconcerned about the survival of the Iron Wolf is disconcerting.” Hill nodded in agreement to what had just been said the obvious lack of concern and unstressed attitude making both Fury and Hill nervous as to what exactly was going to happen. Because if there was one thing which the two spies did not like, it was being uninformed and unaware of what exactly was going on. “We need to find out exactly as to why he wanted Natasha to look inside of those journals. And why the contents of them would make it so that his concern for William Brandt was unfounded.” Hill nodded in agreement once again before watching as her boss walked into the next room. 

Fury listened in closely as the metal door sealed itself behind himself, Fury not moving even an inch as he awaited the sound of the door sealing itself behind him. Even though the fact that Pierce would have been unable to break down the door the sound of the door was a reassuring noise. The expression on Alexander Pierce’s face was one which made Fury want to kill the man right then and there. The fact that Pierce had managed to fool him constantly throughout the years in how he had tricked him into believing that he was entirely loyal to SHIELD made him full of anger. 

“Why exactly did you tell Natasha to look into the journals Pierce?” Fury looked into the face of the man who had been giving SHIELD grief for all of these years. “Why are you so unconcerned about how William Barton was flat lining earlier?” Pierce’s smile grew even broader upon hearing Fury talking to him. 

“There is a reason as to why the second asset is able to keep up with the Soldier. And it isn’t because of perseverance. It goes along with the reason as to why we chose the younger twin instead of Barton.” Fury took this in for a moment before looking Pierce in the eye, noticing once again how Pierce dehumanized William Barton. “Are you saying that William Barton is enhanced?” The shock which Fury felt upon realizing that there was not only one, but now three enhanced individuals was earth-shattering. 

“The reason that I know that the asset is not going to die is not because of any enhancement. The reason that the Iron Wolf is one of the most ferocious and well-trained tool that we have. If only there was a way to get rid of that attitude which he has which is much like Barton’s.” Pierce paused before his smirk reappeared, even more pronounced than before. “He examines everything. He was raised by HYDRA and violence is practically easier than breathing. The Wolf and the Soldier are a unit. Much like Barton and Natasha. Except the asset has been killing since he was five years old. He was raised with little to no sympathy. The only kindness which he ever received was so that he wouldn’t break. Because HYDRA has no use for a broken tool. Both of them have toppled governments. Trust me when I say that he is going to live. His training is practically ingrained into his DNA. He will destroy you the first chance that he gets. Because above everything else he is a tool. Ready to be wielded. If you want to know about his ferocity, then look into the journals.” 

With this Alexander Pierce looked away from Fury, who upon realizing that he was not going to be getting anything else from the other man made his way towards the door, trying to figure out how exactly he was going to get access to the journals. And a possible blood sample to see if William Barton was enhanced as well. 

Upon rejoining Hill in the other room which she had been using to observe the conversation between Pierce and himself he took in the expression on her face. 

“There is no way that we are going to be allowed access to Clint’s brother or the journals without letting the Avengers in on why exactly we are looking into this.” The expression on Hill’s face was contemplative which brought curiosity to the forefront of Fury’s mind. “We could send someone in. There will need to be a case in favor of the Iron Wolf and the Winter Soldier, the journals could help in this regard along with any and every other bit of information. There will have to be a case against the crimes of Hydra and the Iron Wolf and the Winter Soldier are a big part of this.” 

“The Avengers would have complete power which would help in persuading them to go along with this. There would be no removal of files and blood samples from the tower. Clint will want his brother to be able to live freely and this would be the best chance.” Hill look concerned at the end of the conversation, because if Fury was sending in the person she thought that he would then it would be a hard sell. “There cannot be any sort of lying or deceit on our part. They have all of the power.” Fury frowned as this was said the lack of power was obviously something which he was unused to feeling. 

“There will be Hydra agents coming out of the wet work. We will need to make it out that both the Iron Wolf and the Winter Soldier are the victims. Those two assassins are essential to completely taking down Hydra and we cannot let Hydra agents get rid of that advantage. We can’t have them in some far-off prison instead of helping find Hydra. And we need to know if there are any more possible assets out there. That HYDRA would have valued possibly even more so than the Wolf or the Soldier. Pierce sounded too confident, enough that there has to be something bigger which HYDRA has for something like their assets being taken by SHIELD.” Hill pulled out her phone and began putting in the number of the person who would be responsible for confronting the Avengers.

“Yeah. It’s Hill. We need you to talk to the Avengers.” There was an argument between both Hill and the person on the other side of the phone before Hill hung up. 

“They said that they would do it.” Fury nodded before the two of them made their way towards Pierce, so they could take him back to holding. 

Avengers Tower 

Hydra Facility 1976

As he ran the stitch in his side which had begun as an annoyance had now developed into a stabbing pain. The pain which had begun as a steady throb was now a constant companion, ready to bring him down to his knees as he ran through yet another test of Hydra’s. The hallway which he was running through was no different than the many others which he had been subject to because Pierce’s constant need to test his abilities. 

Upon reaching the end of the hallway where it branched out in two separate directions Will looked first to the left and then to the right. The instructions had told him to take a right, but in these tests, it was not uncommon for Hydra to give him the wrong intel. James constantly told him not to rely completely upon intel given to him by Hydra, or by Pierce. The intel could be either lacking or purposefully wrong on Hydra’s part to test his abilities. 

Will went to his knees upon feeling the familiar shock which ran through his body. The collar which was wrapped around his neck sent another electric shock through his system. He had taken too long in deciding which way to go, the controller was punishing him for his delay. Will refused to allow a groan to escape from his lips. Never let them see you bleed was what James was constantly him and it was an invaluable piece of advice. Will had not survived this long by allowing Pierce and Hydra to see when someone or something got to him. 

The electricity finally stopped. Will took the opportunity to rise up to his feet and to take the left corridor reaching out for the knife which should have been in his boot. He cursed internally as he felt the smaller shock which ran through his body. Earlier there had been instructions on where weapons should be hidden on his body and Will had been taught where to place them. The controller was going to give him hell. These people did not understand that even though he had eidetic memory that he did not remember each and everything. 

A sudden noise behind Will brought the Iron Wolf immediately to attention and in one fluid motion he dropped and then struck out taking out the person’s legs. The next course of action which Will took was striking upwards as the agent fell. The punch which was thrown caught the agent on the underside of the jaw rendering the man unconscious. Will smirked upon seeing the boy lying on the floor until another minute shock went through his body causing him to growl. They couldn’t even allow him one moment to enjoy taking out the agents which were constantly training him by practically beating information into his head. Another shock which was slightly stronger went through his body and Will knew that the next one would be crippling if he didn’t get a move on. The first one had been a warning and he was already going to get raked up one side and down the other for not remembering about the lack of the knife from earlier. Will had not even begun having exercises with weapons, so it would make the punishment worse because of the fact. 

As he continued down the corridor Will felt both relief and tension upon realizing that he had reached the end of the exercise. Punishment was not a new occurrence for Will, but he had no idea as to what the punishment would be for reaching out for a weapon that was not there. Mistakes caused complications, and complications were terminated in regard to Hydra. And Will had no doubt in his mind that if he became more trouble than he was worth that Hydra would terminate him without any hesitation. Will’s blood ran cold upon realizing exactly who was standing at the end of the corridor. The person who willingly and even eagerly gave out any type of punishment. He almost started to slow down his gait slightly so as to delay the punishment which would be dealt out. Upon seeing the look which was displayed upon John Garrett’s face. Or the lack of one thereof. Upon seeing the look which was displayed upon John Garrett’s face always made Will uneasy. The fact that the man was only twenty-one years old meant nothing to the Iron Wolf or even to the rest of Hydra. John Garret could be just as malicious as Alexander Pierce could be. The man had been his personal hell ever since Will had begun his training. The man had been trained by Hydra since he was thirteen or fourteen. Any and every shred of mercy which may have been present in the child had been trained and taught out of him during his years with Hydra. The man had learnt from the best in Hydra, learning exactly how to break a person and to get the exact information which he needed. 

Garrett had been trained by the best. Trained by Zola in various ways and by multiple other members of Hydra who were known for being able to get absolute obedience from their victims. Garrett was also known for breaking people which was why his training was not solely done by Garrett. Luckily James was often there to buffer the attention which Garrett offered. The man who was on a steady climb in SHIELD, without the agencies knowledge that the man played for Hydra. 

When Will reached Garrett, he felt dread because of the punishment which he knew that he was going to receive from this man. The man was not known for being lenient when it came to mistakes which one made during training. Garrett said that mistakes which were made during training if allowed to continue led to death. And Garrett constantly told Will how Hydra had put too much time, money, and energy into him to scrap him. But Will knew that this was not completely out of the question. If he caused too much trouble and was not useful enough then they would either keep him under using the words, or they would simply terminate him. 

“You did fairly well for someone of your age.” The pause which the man allowed after saying these words made Will nervous. The calm which the man was displaying terrified him. Will was not afraid to die. That fear had been trained and beaten out of him, but there still was that ever-present need to survive which was ever a constant. Garrett lashed out suddenly without warning. Will saw the man coming but made no move to stop him because if he even made that motion then his punishment would be increased tenfold. 

“You are not the same as any other five-year old.. You are an asset. You are not to make mistakes like the one that you made earlier. The training, the work which Hydra puts into you is not so that you may mess up and make stupid mistakes like not remembering that you have no weapons on your person.” The electricity which was going through Will’s body brought him to his knees as the man unleashed his fury on the object of his anger. The fact that he had allowed himself to make such a ridiculous mistake was something which Garrett was going to beat out of him if need be. 

“There will be no weapons training involving knives, handguns, or any type of weaponry other than which you already possess. There will be no access to the shooting gallery because if you cannot remember how many weapons that you have or do not have on your person then you will need to be reminded of what that feels like after today.” The current which was running through Will at the moment was rendering him speechless, but that did not prevent the five-year old from feeling an anger. The rage which he felt upon being punished in such a way. Will nearly yelled out upon feeling a new source of pain in addition to the pain from the electric collar. 

Garrett was grinding his shoe into the back of Will’s hand which had been resting on the floor when he had fallen because of the electricity. When the electricity finally cut off and the pain in his hand disappeared he looked up to Garrett a defiant look displayed clearly upon his face. One which Garrett quickly wiped off by backhanding the child across the face, anger easily apparent because of the rebellion which the Iron Wolf was displaying. 

“The fact that you are five-years old does not allow you the same mistakes and the same uselessness. You are here to learn, and you are here to be useful to Hydra. Do not think that your age in any way allows you immunity to mistakes.” The defiant look was still clearly displayed upon Will’s face as Garrett finished speaking, causing the older man to smirk. Grabbing Will’s face with his hand he looked straight into the Iron Wolf’s face. 

“We will eventually beat that defiance out of you. The defiant ones either break or they comply. And you will comply.” Upon releasing Will, Garrett backed away and wiped his hands on his pants almost as if he was wiping himself clean of the torture which he had just inflicted upon the young child. 

‘I will always fight you.’ Will thought to himself as he watched closely for any sign that Garrett was going to continue with the so-called lesson. 

“Get up off the bloody ground.” Will steadily pulled himself up off the ground, not so slowly that it would annoy Garrett but also not so quickly that Garrett would think that his point had not gotten across. 

“The collar used during training will be removed and you will be accompanying the Soldier for a training exercise. I am aware of the fact that you are not stupid enough to try and run. You know what should happen should you display that Hydra does not have complete control over you. This exercise will result in your severe punishment should you not excel. The Soldier will be accompanying you on this exercise and you will be displaying exactly how Hydra trains its assets to do exactly what they are told.” Garrett after saying this walked up to Will and grabbed him by the neck and picked him up so that they were looking each other in the eye. 

“Should you disobey the words will be used along with any other punishments which Hydra deems to be necessary.” Will felt cold upon hearing that the handlers would use the words should he disobey. The handlers rarely used the words on Will because he would anything to keep from having that lack of control over his actions. 

 

Present Time

“Stop worrying. Will has Jarvis, he’ll be fine. I know that you want to keep watch over him, but you should get cleaned up so that when he wakes up you can move to the floor which Stark is setting up for you. The first thing which would be clothes.” The look which James sent Natasha would have killed any lesser person. Natasha was currently trying to convince James to take a shower after she had left Clint down in the lab with Tony. Natasha had helped James in moving Will into a room which served as a guest room on Clint’s floor until the floor which Tony was preparing for the two of them was ready. 

“You know that Jarvis will watch over him for the few minutes it will take you to get clothing, Jarvis even said so. Also, Will told you that you stank and that you should get all of the blood off of you, which means a lot from both an assassin and the man that obviously loves you. Jarvis will keep an eye on Will. No one will get into the tower without us knowing about it.” James looked as if he had begun to consider what had been suggested upon hearing the mention of the male assassin currently lying in the bed which he had been camped out next to since Will had fallen asleep. The bed which was in the guest room on Clint’s floor. Natasha was more shocked than she would like to admit when James stood up from his seat next to where Will was still sleeping.

“Jarvis, please contact me if Will wakes up and needs me.” As soon as James had heard Jarvis’ response he followed Natasha. Who was leading him through a hallway and towards an elevator which instantly made James nervous. An elevator was an amazing place to take out a mark. You could use poison and make it seem as if the mark died from anxiety because of the halted elevator. You could choke them out on the trip to your floor, the opportunities were endless. James knew that because of Jarvis that the elevators were more than likely constantly monitored but unfortunately this did not make him any less concerned about the lack of safety involved. 

“I had the exact same reservations about the elevators when I first started living in the tower as well.” James whipped his head around to face Natasha whose expression had no ulterior motives which James could perceive. “Elevators are such an easy place to get to a mark.” Natasha nodded as soon as James had spoken, James was glad that he was not the only one who had noticed the vulnerability of an elevator. 

As soon as the elevator had stopped James felt an unease come over him upon reaching a door which Natasha opened. James wondered who exactly the room belonged to but then upon taking in the surroundings felt his body freeze. This was Steve’s room. His body refused to move upon realizing the fact that Steve may possibly be in the room, waiting to talk with him. 

Natasha seemed to take in this very aspect because of James’ stiff posture and his sudden lack of movement which seemed to shout out how nervous he actually was. 

“Don’t worry. Steve isn’t in the room. Both Steve and Sam are looking over some of the journals which we brought with us from Alexander Pierce’s home.” The statement did not make James any less nervous, because of the fact that the man would be witness to the horrors and awful crimes which he had committed during his life, along with Will’s as well. This thought went out of his mind though when a piece of fabric suddenly flew through the air and he caught it out of reflex. Realizing that it was just a simple T-shirt and that Natasha was holding a pair of sweatpants calmed him down. 

“There’s a shower on Clint’s floor which you can use. I know that you would prefer to keep your distance from Steve right now, but you do need to realize that the man thinks of you as his childhood friend. You’re going to have to talk to him eventually. The reason we’re here is because Steve has clothes which would fit the best. Clint got Will some clothes for him when he wakes up.” James felt nervous even just hearing that he would have to talk to the man who Bucky Barnes had been back during the past century. Just borrowing the other man’s clothing made him nervous. Clothes which would in no way stop a bullet.

“I’m not the man who Steve knew.” Natasha nodded as they made their back towards the elevator so that they could return to Clint’s floor. “That is reasonable, but you do need to understand that Steve will want answers as to how you survived.” James remained silent as the two of them stepped out from the elevator and back onto Clint’s floor. Natasha led James to where the bathroom was before taking up the spot next to Will. Looking to the shirt which was laid out next to her she smiled. It truly meant that Clint liked Will if the archer was allowing him to wear his Dog Cops shirt. Looking to Will who had fallen asleep again she stretched over and grabbed the book which she had placed earlier on the bedside.

 

1976 Undisclosed Location

Will felt James’ leg brush up against his leg in the van which Hydra was using to transport them to the location which had yet to be revealed to both James and Will. The brush up against Will’s leg was a reassurance which James used often when there was no opportunity for verbal interaction between the two assets. 

“You are going to be instructing and displaying your abilities to a secret organization.” The sound of the handler’s voice caused the Soldier and the Iron Wolf to look up. The man who was responsible for controlling them was a senior agent who was one of the very few agents who knew both Will and James’ command words. “Should you even try and rebel the consequences will be severe. I will use the words to ensure complete obedience on your part Iron Wolf.” Will felt the familiar chill run through his body which even the comforting presence of James’ leg against his could not soothe. 

Neither of the assets spoke, choosing rather to nod to let the man know that both of them understood exactly what was going to happen. “You are going to be put up against other trainees and candidates for a program called the Red Room. All females. You have been training longer than most of these candidates but do not let your guard down. Will looked up only to allow the man to know that he understood that should he make a stupid mistake such as the one with the knife from earlier that there would be consequences. 

“Are there any questions?” Will said nothing. Even if he had had questions then he would not have asked because of the fact that he never knew what exactly would set off the controllers. “What will my job be?” Will kept an air of nonchalance, because he was five years old. He had been training ever since he could walk and was trained in a million other ways before that so that he had always been trained to be a weapon. A tool to be wielded and used by Hydra. Or at least that’s what they believed, and Will would allow them to believe that until he was able to strike back.   
Avengers Tower 

“The man just tried to kill you because you reminded him of a young Alexander Pierce. I doubt that you should go anywhere near Bucky or Clint’s brother. Which was a brilliant idea by the way choosing to walk right into a room with two men who both have no small amount of PTSD.” Steve looked to Sam with a glare which softened a moment later when Steve looked back down to the journal which the two had been studying. The journal contained a list of names which the two men had been trying to sort through because of the practically random nature of the names. 

“These names are really starting to piss me off. There is no rhyme or reason to any of these names.” Whatever Sam had been about to say never left his mouth because of the pale tone which Steve’s face had taken. Sam walked over to where Steve was staring intensely at the page of the journal and looked down. Sam looked at the page which seemed to have captured the man’s complete, undivided attention. Sam did not understand what could have caused Steve to act like this. What could have caused Steve to pale so suddenly when he reached the bottom of the page. It all made sense now. 

Howard and Maria Stark. Sam’s blood ran cold as soon as he realized just exactly what every single one of these names in the journal were. The hundreds maybe even thousands of names in this journal were all people that Hydra had killed. The only question was how many of these people had been killed by the Winter Soldier and the Iron Wolf. The reaction which Steve had upon seeing the name more than suggested that Bucky had killed Howard and Maria. 

“Do you think that all of these people were killed by Bucky and Will?” Steve’s hands shook as he closed the journal unable to handle seeing Howard’s name on a kill list. 

“I sincerely hope not. Because if so then that will mean that both Bucky and Will together have easily killed thousands of people. Which would make it much harder to prove to the United States or even the world that they deserve to be walking around rather than in solitary confinement for the rest of their lives.” Sam shuddered upon hearing the statement from Steve. These men had been brainwashed and controlled for who knows how many years with no small amount of PTSD as reward. These men were the definition of being prisoners for however many years and they may have just escaped only to be placed in an entirely different kind of prison. 

1976 Red Room Location 

Will stood ramrod straight as one of the people in charge talked about what exactly was going to happen momentarily. Will had taken in each and every one of the candidates upon entering the room and noticed that not a one of them was around his age. These people were fortunate that they had at least been given a few years rather than being raised in the program like himself. 

Will never allowed his posture to slacken even when there was a woman who entered the room and then eventually stopped in front of him. The woman crouched down and then looked him in the face while Will tried his best not to spit in the woman’s face. The lack of action was made that much harder when she grabbed his face in her hand and then moved it around looking into his eyes and at the rest of his face. When the woman released her iron grip on his chin he nearly allowed a sigh to escape from his mouth but held it in because there would be punishment for any show of weakness. 

“He is trained well. But is he as mindless as he appears to be? There was no physical response when I took hold of him. The Iron Wolf is only five years old, surely the asset would have a response even if it was only hate in its eyes.” The handler standing directly behind Will chuckled upon hearing what the woman had asked of him and Will had to hold back a laugh as well. 

“The asset is aware of the fact that should he show any sign of weakness in front of this organization that there will be no forgiveness. The asset has plenty of fire and even anger for his work and knows that should he not obey that there will be forced compliance.” The pride which the man felt was easily evident, Will could feel the smile which was no doubt across the man’s face because of how much pleasure the man took from pain and breaking people down. 

“Your control over the asset is tenuous at best based upon the use of command words and the fear of a future beating. What should happen when you send him out on a mission? You will lose your asset because of the fact that your asset like any dog will run away from the owner which uses fear and pain to control it. There is no obedience, only fear.” The laughter which came from the handler who was standing behind Will caused a chill to run down the five-year old’s spine because that laugh meant that there was something else planned. “Do you see the asset trembling like a newborn colt?” Garrett’s voice cut through the air, his voice firm. Will knew that this was the voice of a man whose pride was being tested. And Garrett was never one to back down when his own skill and pride was in question. 

“Show exactly what your top four best candidates have to offer and then there will be a demonstration of just how capable our Iron Wolf truly is. How age is not a factor when it comes to his obedience.” The woman merely nodded and then turned around to look upon the group of girls who were lined up in a straight row. Not one of the girls looked the same. There was one girl who stood out beside the rest with her bright red hair being at the most nine years old. Will noticed as the woman pulled four girls from the line that she was trying to keep attention away from the redhead, or at least Garrett’s. The older male failed to notice the special attention, but Will had. And Will knew that this meant that she was likely the most valuable piece the Red Room possessed. Or that she would be. The woman kept her body positioned in such a way, drawing attention from the redhead. Will kept any tension from his body. Even though he was here to test the Red Room’s capability it didn’t mean in the slightest that he wanted to beat them to a pulp. Which was more than likely what he was going to be forced to do. As this thought ran through his mind Will felt the heat from Garrett’s breath as the man leaned down behind him, the stench making Will want to scrunch up his nose in distaste. 

“Keep an eye on that girl. She is the rising star of the Red Room and is said to have risen through the ranks of the Red Room in an unbelievable speed. Will looked to the oldest girl out of the four that the Red Room had chosen, taking her in, not mentioning to the handler of the redhead.

“If you disappoint later there will not only be consequences for you, but for the Soldier. He’s close by just in case you were stupidly thinking of trying something.” Will’s blood immediately ran cold and it took everything in him to not react in any way because of how they were going to use the Winter Soldier against him. “Keep that in mind when you are here in the Red Room. Nod if you understand.” Will nodded in response, the anger which he felt at having Garrett threaten the Winter Soldier because there was nothing which he could do about it. Should he strike out against Garrett or anyone from Hydra they would freeze the Soldier or maybe even him. Worst case scenario they would use the command words on the both of them and there would be no telling as to when control would be given back to the two of them. 

Hydra had only used the words on him less than a handful of times because Hydra continually stated that they wanted a tool which did not require constant handling. The handlers merely used other means, but Will never let Hydra know that if the Winter Soldier was not there that he would be fighting them tooth and nail to gain his freedom.

Will looked on as each and every one of these young girls fired at targets and sparred with one another, taking note that it was indeed the red-haired girl who was indeed at the top of this class of girls. Garrett continuously failed to notice this because of the girl’s obvious youth and the lack of attention which the Red Room was giving her. Garrett’s pride in HYDRA blinding him once again. Will did notice that there were exceptions to her own excellence but in comparison to the girls almost twice her age they were minute. The older girls had obviously not been taught accuracy over speed because even though each one was adept the obvious goal had been to teach speed. Hydra’s goal in teaching Will had been that he should see every single shot as his last one, which had not been a very hard lesson because of how Hydra’s attitude toward the asset was. 

Will’s attention was brought back to the present when Garrett tapped him gently on the shoulder which was a motion that meant for Will to bring his attention back to the present. One devised for moments like these when Garrett was unable to use the violent methods which he adored to get his attention. What made Will angry though was the fact that he had been paying attention. Focusing on each and every candidate in the room’s actions. Their weaknesses. Their strengths. Resisting the urge to let out a grow, because of the repercussion which would later occur because of the response Will focused his efforts rather on taking in more of these girls. 

As the girls begun to spar, Will noticed immediately that very few of them had what HYDRA had drilled into both the Soldier and Will. Being a killer. These girls were sparring but very few of them were going at the other as if their life depended upon it. Will knew that HYDRA saw each spar, each exercise as a test. A test of if he truly wanted to live, because if he refused to give his best then HYDRA would find another. Will only saw one person who seemed to outshine the rest, at least to him. It was still the redhead whose lack of perfection was compensated by her learning curve, she rarely made the same mistake twice. Will watched as she took a foot to the chest only to twist her opponents’ leg, taking her down to the ground when her opponent tried it a second time.

Will watched as Garrett walked over to where the woman in charge of all these so-called candidates. The feeling of dread growing as Garrett steadily drew closer to the woman. There was no way that whatever those two were going to talk about was going to be good. There had been no mistake in his mind of how much of a power play this was. Will had known from the very beginning. Being told to watch the girls as they sparred, as they practiced shooting various guns at the multiple targets. To show Will that HYDRA was superior to the Red Room. 

 

Tony’s Lab

Tony was leaning over the table looking at an image of Will and Clint’s blood. Comparing Will’s to James’ and then finally to Steve’s while keeping Clint’s up there to see if there were any similarities. While Tony was engrossed in this Clint entered the lab, his boyfriend not noticing in the slightest because of how interested he was in the blood. Clint, knowing Tony as well as he did tried to make as much noise as possible as he drew closer to Tony, not wanting to freak the other man out. When he knew that Tony was somewhat aware of his presence he stopped directly behind him. Placing his arms around his lovers’ torso Clint kissed the back of the inventor’s neck fondly. Lingering there for a moment before taking in the images which were spread out across the screens, realizing exactly what they meant. 

“These images. They meant exactly what I think they do. Don’t they?” Tony seemed to take a minute to absorb what his boyfriend had said before turning around in his embrace. Kissing the archer for a long moment before he eventually pulled away slowly with a smile on his face which then turned into a frown upon looking to the screens once again. 

“I want Bruce’s opinion before deciding. I want to be absolutely certain without a shadow of a doubt that this.” Tony motioned to all of the screens with a wide sweep of his arms. “Means everything which I think that it means.” Clint said nothing as the two of them continued to investigate the blood samples which had been taken from each respective person. Clint was looking closely at the two images of James and Steve’s blood when a loud sigh from Tony caused him to smirk. Not looking up from the images Clint smiled when he heard yet another sigh which was a clear sign that Tony wanted his attention. Looking over to the other man Clint looked at him pointedly. 

“Yes dear?” Tony shot him a look which clearly meant that he was not impressed with the term before going off. “If what these images are saying is correct then it would explain as to why you don’t even look like you’re pushing thirty let alone forty.” Clint smirked upon hearing the other man and his reasoning. Which Clint had to say was pretty sound because of how each sample of blood had the same consistent base structure which Bruce and Tony had discovered upon investigating Steve’s blood originally. And even though both James and Will had a slightly different serum which was used because of how the cells in their blood and the structure of their own DNA was because of the alteration in the serum the main components were there. 

Clint smirked as he looked to his own blood sample which had none of these indicators which would have shown that he was in anyway serum enhanced. Because Tony continued to compare his own sample to that of his brother. “Hate to tell you babe but that image isn’t going to change the more that you look at it. The similarities which are evident in James and Will in comparison to Steve would have shown up by now. SHIELD has also done multiple blood tests to ensure that my own talent isn’t due to any enhancement. It’s more than likely just good genes.” Tony pouted upon hearing this which caused the archer to laugh in response. Kissing the other man which was made difficult by the smile which continued to break out across his face Clint tried to suppress it, only to have Tony smile and ruin their attempt all over again. 

When every screen went dark though the two of them immediately stopped laughing and looked around to see just what had caused it. “Jarvis what’s going on?” 

“Security measure sir. Someone has entered the private elevator and is descending to the lab.” Tony immediately began telling Jarvis all of the things that he wanted him to do and about all of the projects to lock down. “And J, make sure that you have no small amount of protection on the files which we got on Will and James.” 

“Very well sir.” When Tony was in the midst of saying thank you he looked around for Clint and smirked upon realizing that the archer had vanished and realized that the other was probably in the vents directly above where the elevator would open up. Tony realized with a quick start that he really needed to fix that after this issue was dealt with. When the elevator doors opened, and Agent walked out Tony felt immediately nervous. There was no way that anything that Agent could want would be good. Especially since Will and James had taken up residence here. Tony knew though without a shadow of a doubt that SHIELD was going to try and have control of everything. And he refused to allow them to mess up this situation even more.


End file.
